


Shaolin Mom

by Hell_On_Training_Wheels



Category: Mortal Kombat (Video Games), Mortal Kombat - All Media Types
Genre: Cats, Domestic, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Fun, Gen, Humor, M/M, Multi, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-25
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:55:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 55,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24871891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hell_On_Training_Wheels/pseuds/Hell_On_Training_Wheels
Summary: After saving them, Kung Jin becomes the reluctant owner of 5 kittens.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 24





	1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**   
**Lost and Found**

* * *

Kung Jin actually never had a fondness for cats. Yet here he was looking down at five fluffy, malnourished faces that were squeaking at him from the cardboard box he was holding.

  
To be honest, the chorus of mewing was starting to get on his nerves; it was as constant and unrelenting as their feeble attempts to hurdle the edge of the box and try to escape. He would constantly have to shove them back in, he didn't like cats, but he wasn't mean to them; all he did was shift the box back and forth to tumble them back in.

Eventually, he placed his leather jacket over the top of the box to cover it and muffle the sound at the same time. Jin was also tired of the stares from passerby's he was getting when they saw a Shaolin Monk wearing casual clothing, carrying a box of crying kittens at 10 o'clock at night.

He wasn't sure if the pet store he was heading in would even be open, but if he had made a valiant to rescue them, he would make sure he at least tried to feed them. It was serendipity really, or cruel joke played on him by the Elder Gods, that just a couple of hours previous he was complaining how he didn't want any company.

Now he had all he could ask for...

* * *

_Bull's-Eye Bar and Grill_

_A few hours earlier..._

  
"Let's get out of here," Jin complained, eyeballing the western themed bar with an annoyed grimace. "This place reminds me of Cowboy Panda too much."

Cassie looked up from her giant fishbowl sized margarita with a raised eyebrow and slurped through the straw loudly to convey to Kung Jin she didn't care. Takeda and Jacqui sat across the table from them, Takeda had his arm wrapped around the latter's shoulders as he played absently with the fry on his empty plate; as if debating if he was full enough to eat it or not. Jacqui eyeballed the overly decorated bar with a shrug as if agreeing with Jin that it was the place the Outworld cowboy would love to dine at.

Jin was done before they had even walked in. He had no desire to come out and socialize, but the others had dragged him out of the confines of his comfortable room for 'Squad Bonding Time,' that Takeda had dubbed it.

The fact that they picked this place out of the million other places they could have taken him to was also an annoyance. He understood why, though; it was Friday night, and the family friendly joint was the only thing that had seating that didn't require them waiting an hour.

  
They swung in and ate in no time, but the atmosphere was still noisy with kid's screaming and steel guitar song after steel guitar song. For the love of the Gods, how many times did he have to hear about cowboys, beer, and tailgating? It was stereotypical and repetitive and it reminded him of Erron Black since his only experience with anything Spaghetti western related was the kohl painted asshole.

  
Cassie groaned in pain, drawing the other's attention to her, as she placed her fingers to her temples. "Fuck me, brain freeze." She shook her head, and Jin rolled his eyes at the almost empty margarita that was full seconds earlier.

  
"You wanna slow down there, girl? You're not at a keg party," Jacqui told her, offering her a sideways grin at her friend.

  
"Dudes, come on," Cassie slurred, looking around the glasses of water they each had with a disappointed scowl. "Why am I the only one drinking? It's Friday night! That automatically means we have to drink."

  
Jacqui frowned at her; reading her like a book, "Why didn't we just go to the bar if you wanted to get us drunk?"

  
"I wasn't trying to be obvious," the sergeant said with the roll of her eyes before her lips went back to the fluorescent green straw.

  
"Another reason I didn't want you to bring me out," Jin growled, "You guys will get wasted, and you'll make the Shaolin the one to be your DD. Real nice."

  
Cassie slapped him on the shoulder and Jin's lip lifted up into a snarl at the show of her tipsy camaraderie.

  
"Nah, you're not just our chauffeur," Cage sniggered, "You're gonna have fun tonight too."

  
Kung Jin narrowed his eyes at her remark, his eyes still glued to the empty plate in front of him at the same time.

  
"Seriously, I think that if you meet someone tonight, you won't be so much of uptight douche-stick," Cassie said with a lopsided smile. Kung Jin immediately flashed her an annoyed look, and he noticed Takeda and Jacqui grimacing in sympathy almost out of his peripheral vision.

  
It wasn't his first time Cassie had attempted him to help him get laid and apparently his request for her, in his words, 'to jump in front of a moving car' had obviously been ignored.

  
While he was pleased that they had accepted his sexual preference in their strides, he was not happy about their attempts to push him into getting his cherry popped. It was a decision he wanted to make for himself on his terms and Jin was fed up with them trying to coax him into it.

  
Takeda seemed to be the only one who understood and threw a pointed look in Cassie's direction: "Let it go already. He doesn't want you as a wingman."

  
Jacqui didn't add anything, but Jin could tell she was also in agreement by the miniscule nod that almost went unnoticed by Kung Jin. Cassie surveyed them and gave them a frown as if they had betrayed her.

  
"Seriously?" the blonde blurted, "You guys are turning on me too? I thought we were friends. Whatever, I'll pull through... somehow."

  
The sergeant gave a forced childish pout that made Jacqui raise a speculative eyebrow towards that, in archer's opinion, looked like she was trying to judge how drunk Cassie was already.

  
"Girl, lay off the margaritas and lay off Jin," Briggs insisted with a humorous smile but serious tone. "He doesn't want your help."

  
"I can defend myself, thanks," Kung Jin snapped with a scowl. The corner of Jacqui's lip pulled up with a resentful flicker before she chose to look at the collection of Eastwood movie posters on the wall while Takeda frowned at him.

  
"I think Cassie is just worried that you are always by yourself all the time," the ninja remarked. Jin groaned internally; he knew the opening lines of a pep talk when he heard it.

  
_Always the voice of reason, aren't you Takeda?_

  
"All you do is wake up, train and then head back to your room," Takeda began, his tone concerned. "I get you wanna be by yourself, but every night? It ain't healthy."

  
"I'm out now aren't I?" Jin debated bitterly.

  
"We forced you to come out — big difference," Cassie interjected, pointing her green straw in his direction before she began to smash it absently at the ice in her glass.

"I like to be alone — big deal!" he huffed. "Seriously guys, lay off."

  
"It would just be nice to see you without a bug up your ass now and then," Cassie quipped. "And I'm thinkin' getting you a little cushion for the pushin' might be what you need."

  
"By the Gods!" Kung Jin groaned; exasperated.

  
Takeda scratched the back of his neck and gave a friendly, but awkward, smile. "Ignore Cassie. Have you at least, I don't know, try and meet anyone? I'm sure there're a couple of guys at the base that — "

  
Kung Jin shot up from his seat; he was done. The restaurant, the crappy greasy food and the conversation alone had worn out his patience; he wanted nothing more than to go home. Jin stormed away even though he heard Cassie chastising him from behind for 'being a poor sport' and Takeda's pleading that they were sorry. He didn't care; he needed the air. He vaguely heard the hostess at the front tell him to have a goodnight and for a moment he thought of snapping at her, but he knew she wasn't what he needed to direct his anger at.

  
The night air hit him when he pushed open the door and began to walk in the direction of the Special Forces Base. It was a ways away, but during his time as a thief he had trekked farther distances than 5 miles. 5 miles of angry striding was what he needed to calm his head.

  
It was aggravating that they still continued to pester him about the topic when he had told him to stop. After months of being patient, he had reached the end of his rope. It had been the icing on the cake of his already bad week, and he wanted nothing but to be left alone.

  
He knew the reason he hated the topic so much; it's was because of how alone it reminded him that he was. His friend's words were kind and thoughtful, even Cassie's under all the sarcastic remarks, but it still bothered him out of all of them, he still had no one. Takeda and Jacqui were a couple and Cassie, well, she had her mirror. Then there was Kung Jin. The solitary Shaolin Monk who had no idea where to begin when it came to relationships.

  
Jin still wanted all those things, but the scholarly Earthrealmer knew there wasn't a book that could help him out. He was hesitant about stepping into the pool in fear that as soon as he did, he would sink right to the bottom.

  
As hard as tried to put on a hardened exterior that none of this bothered him, he knew that the other's could see under the veil as well.

  
Kung Jin wanted to have someone to talk to, to laugh, to share a bond with that went beyond the parameters of friendship. He sighed knowing how difficult those things were even in the 21st century to find for someone; heterosexual or not.  
He was starting to doubt he would ever find it at all...

  
Jin was passing by an alley when he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. It was dark, but he found a large, overweight white man in his forties with balding hair throwing a garbage bag into a nearby dumpster. Before he placed the bag harshly in the dumpster, Jin could barely make out something —alive — prodding against the plastic of the trash bag.

  
Kung Jin felt a warning flag immediately rise. It was painfully obvious that the man knew he was doing something morally wrong because as soon as he saw Jin standing there, he jumped in surprise before he took off in the other direction.

  
"Hey!"

  
The man ignored him, and Kung Jin could hear the pitter-patter of his tubby feet splash in the puddles in the dark alley and for a moment, Jin thought of chasing him down but he was more interested in what he had discarded.

  
He wasn't sure exactly what he would find, but as soon as he heard the tiny mewing and saw the movement, he knew what he had thrown away.

  
Kittens.

  
Jin shook his head in disgust as he looked in the direction of where the man had fled.

  
It was such a cowardly and unnecessary way to get rid of them — the tub of Crisco couldn't just drop them off at a pet store or shelter? Seriously?

  
Kung Jin wouldn't call himself an animal lover, he had his favorite animals, sure, but cats were not too high on the list. Top 20, because he only had experience with feral cats; and they were nasty and mean.

  
He understood that nature had it's order and things like this happened every day, but it didn't mean he found it ok. Everything deserved a fighting chance, and this was disgusting.

  
Jin reached in and grabbed the knotted top of the bag to lift it from the dumpster. As he pulled them up, he felt the kittens tumble to the bottom and land on top of each other, and he grimaced; fearing that he might be hurting them.

  
As soon as the bag was free, he used his other hand to cup the bottom gently and set the bag gently on the ground. He could feel their tiny little claws through the plastic when he pulled his hand from the bottom and set them on the pavement.

  
The bag wobbled, the little creatures clamoring around the edges for an escape. Kung Jin pulled apart the knot with little effort despite the fat man had tied it tight. He unraveled the plastic and looked down to see 5 little faces of different color varieties meowing at him from inside. Jin immediately frowned at the 2 that lay motionless at the bottom of the bag, its siblings stepping over him and its mother; ignorant to both of their passing.

  
Jin threw an angry glance in the direction of where the fat tub of lard went; now he really wished he had chased him down and threw him in the dumpster —giving him a taste of his own medicine.

  
He sighed down at the little fluff-balls that were trying to jump out of the bag, all of them seeking his attention the more the minutes dragged. Jin had to admit, even in their disheveled states, they were stinking cute.

  
They were all different shades which was a tad confusing to him. You figure that they would all be alike, but they all had their own defining physical characteristics. Even the ones that lay dead at the bottom were different; a little one with gray and white markings, same as his mother, but she was black and white.

  
He felt a claw scratch across the top of his fingers, and he glared down at the culprit; a jet black kitten with short hair and green eyes the color of jade.

  
"You little dirt-bag, that hurt you know," Jin smirked, even though he didn't appreciate the skinny red cuts over the top of his ring finger.

  
All of a sudden, he heard a long, demanding cry come from the orange tabby with blue eyes. It did it once more, and Jin couldn't help but compare it to a tiny lion cub trying to grow into his adult roar.

  
Kung Jin chuckled at the kitten, "Giving me sass, tough guy?"

  
The other two, he noticed, although different in color, stuck together like two peas in a pod. Not once had the left each other's side. Like the others, they were adorable with their patterns. One was a mixture of orange, black and dark brown that meshed together like a smudged painting, with blue eyes that stared up at him in curiosity. The other was gray with a white spot on his nose and white 'socks' on both of the front of his feet, and unlike his friend, screamed at him.

  
The last one was the only one that had remained quiet for most of the time, only absently meowing when he could get a word in over it's siblings. Like his brothers and sisters, he was short haired, but he was a dirty shade of white with sapphire colored eyes. Out of all of them, he seemed to be the most mature of the bunch, which was strange for such a tiny little thing.

  
For some reason, it reminded him of Raiden. He felt it had a lot to do with the eyes since most of his white hair was dirty. "You're freaking me out cat."  
The white haired kitten meowed at him, almost as if it was a response to his statement.

  
As he watched them wandering around the bag, and he began to feel the dirty water of the alley start soak through the fabric of his dark jeans, he started to wonder what he was going to do now. He rescued them, they would be ok, but what the heck was he going to do with 5 kittens?

  
He heard them all squeak at him, almost as if they were asking him the same question.

  
"Quit yelling at me," Jin told them.

  
Another set of mewing.

  
Jin nodded his head in playful agreement, "Yup. I hear you alright."

  
They all squeaked again in unison, and he laughed as it dragged on for a good while until it ended.

  
"Tell me about it," Jin smiled. "No, really I wanna know."

  
The orange one yelled at him once more; the others quiet.

  
"You're the bossy one, aren't ya?" the Shaolin noticed, raising an eyebrow at him. "I can tell."

  
Another ferocious kitten cry from the orange lion, almost as if he was annoyed by him.

  
Kung Jin stopped himself, realizing what he was doing and frowned deeply as he narrowed his eyes in thought.

  
Why was he having a conversation with kittens?

  
_Get a grip._

  
Jin looked around the alley, knowing full well that he couldn't carry them around in the plastic bag. He saw something sticking out from behind the dumpster, and he smiled at how perfect it was.

  
Quickly he ran over to retrieve the box, and as he unfolded it, he noticed the kittens make their daring escape from the bag. They meowed and stumbled away, going in different directions as Jin raced over to grab them.

  
He laughed as he plucked the orange one from the ground, "Nope, you guys can't get away that easily."

  
Finally, he had all 5 of them bunched together like a tiny, smelly bouquet, and he grimaced when he could feel their rib cages through their matted fur. Carefully, he placed all of them in the large, cardboard box and watched as they investigated it. Their little claws scraped against the sides of the box while Jin went over to make sure he didn't truly forget anyone.

  
Gingerly, he placed two fingers on the mother and 6th kitten's body and frowned when he felt how stiff and cold they were; they had been dead long before going in the dumpster. He wrapped up the bag and covered it before he picked it up and set it gently to the side with a solemn sigh.

  
Jin looked back to see the black one making an attempt to escape.

  
"Oh no, you don't," Kung Jin said, pushing the black one back in the box. As Jin picked up the box and carried it, he found himself nudging them in the box as they tried to get out. Almost like a game of Whack-a-Mole, without the mallet.

  
They balanced uncoordinated in the box, and Jin couldn't help but laugh softly as they fell from the movements of him walking with them and tried with little success to stand back up again.

  
"You all look like little drunks," Jin chuckled, "That's it; I'm cutting you all off."

  
The meowed at him and at the new environment they were in, almost like a bunch of kids asking him questions on a road trip.

  
_"Who are you?"_

  
_"Where are we going?"_

  
_"What's this?"_

  
_"What's that?"_

  
_"I can count to potato!"_

  
As Jin continued to push them back in the box for about a mile or so, he began to feel a slight headache form from a combination of the constant meowing and his inner thoughts. Now that the novelty of them wore off, what was he going to do with them?

  
Yes, they were cute, but he didn't have any use for them and sadly didn't want any of them. He just wanted to do his good deed and save them.

  
Now that he was thinking about it, he realized they were probably meowing so much was because they were starving. He grumbled at the fact that he would have to take care of them for at least one night.

  
Jin could sneak them into the base no problem, but finding them something to eat at this time of night, would be the tricky part.

  
At least it was better than hanging out with a hammered Cassie Cage.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2  
** **Welcome to Petco: Get Your Shit and Get Out**

* * *

Kung Jin was fortunate to see the small pet store, called _The_ _Pet Stop_ , in the distance, in between a couple of other shops along a strip mall. However, what was unfortunate for him was that he saw the last employee of the night was already packed and ready to close; his key already turning in the lock.

"Wait, hold up!"

Jin ran as softly as he could with the box, trying not to jar the little fluffy babies inside too much from his movements. The employee turned his head in his direction and frowned instantly when he saw him run up to him. He was a caucasian kid with dark brown hair cut short and his brown eyes that looked as annoyed as the frown he had on his face. He was shorter than Jin and leaner, but not emaciated or chubby; just average.

The employee saw Jin and yawned, before placing a finger to the corner of his eye; didn't seem like he noticed the box.

"Sorry, we're already closed up for the night," he informed indifferently. He looked at the box briefly but shrugged it off.

Jin rolled his eyes. _Couldn't he see the box and put two and two together?_

"I don't care. Open it back up," Kung Jin, his tone impatient, "I got five mouths to feed."

The kid raised a tired eyebrow at him, "Good for you — who's the father?"

The Shaolin narrowed his eyes at him, "You're seriously not going to let me just grab what I need?" he questioned indignantly.

"We. Are. Closed," the employee reiterated, his tone growing more irked with each word.

He went to move around him, but he instantly blocked his path, "Look you minimum-wage asshole, just take a look in the box and tell me no," Kung Jin challenged firmly.

Jin knew perfectly well that if the guy saw the kittens that he would have a change of heart. If he didn't, he could always break into the store.

The employee rolled his eyes and sighed and Kung Jin mirrored him — also equally miffed by him. He walked over and lifted the leather jacket covering the box. As soon as he did, he saw a smile form slowly on his face; clearly it was enough to wake him up because his guarded demeanor changed.

Jin heard the kittens meowing curiously at the new face and felt the box shift towards the employee that looked down at them with a sympathetic smile. He glanced back at Kung Jin and flashed him a sheepishly guilty look.

"Well... I'm a dick," he said sigh. "I thought you had candy bars or something else in the box."

Kung Jin frowned at the stupidity of the clerks' guess. _Really? Why in the hell would I have candy bars in a dirty cardboard box at 10 at night? Do I look like a Girl Scout, idiot?_

The kid reached in and gave the black one a little scratch on the head. "They're all so cute. How can I say _no_ to those faces?"

He nodded his head in the direction of the store, "C'mon," he said with a slight groan. "We'll get you what you need for them."

Kung Jin smirked, somewhat victoriously, and followed the pet store clerk as he turned the unlocked the door and stepped inside. He closed the door behind Jin before his hand went over to disarm the security alarm by punching in the code on the keypad.

_4-5-6-7_

Jin scoffed internally; it was easy enough to remember and uninspired. He flicked on the lights and Kung Jin adjusted to the brightness; blinking his eyes a couple of times.

It was a relatively small store, though it carried something for every common household pet from hamsters to reptiles to fish. His eyes landed on the sign hanging over aisle 4 that had the black and white feline face attached to it.

He felt the clerk grab the box, and Jin reluctantly let him take it so he could set it down on the top of the counter.

"They'll be okay. The coat weighs it down," he reassured him, before snapping his fingers. "You're going to need kitten formula. They look like they're only a few weeks old; 5 at least."

He nodded and let the clerk lead him to the aisle. He seemed pretty knowledgeable about what to do, maybe he had kittens before as well because all of a sudden he started to pull things from the shelf without Jin's approval to do so. Everything from metallic bowls, to a canister of powdered formula, to nail clippers.

Without breaking eye contact with what he was grabbing, he addressed him, "Let me guess— they were abandoned."

"How could ya tell?" Jin asked, almost rhetorically.

The clerk rolled his eyes before he let out a disgusted huff, "Assholes. Anyways, I recommend you take them to a vet too. I'm not an expert on this, but at least they'll be feed. Google will be your friend. I suggest playing around with it before doing anything with them. By the way, be careful feeding them 'cause they might eat too fast, and they'll end up hurting themselves more."

The Shaolin raised an eyebrow, "For not being an expert you seem to know what you're doing," he commented with a blase tone.

"I had a kitten that was 8 weeks old, but he was taken care of already. So like I said—I'm guessing," the employee said, scratching his chin before he felt the items start to fall from his grip. The formula dropped and the plastic lid popped off, luckily it was sealed.

"You dropped it. I'm not paying for it," the archer stated plainly, his eyebrow raised.

The pet store employee rolled his eyes, mumbled _'smart ass'_ under his breath before suddenly handling the items to him. Caught off guard, Jin started to fumble with them before he got a good hold. He had a small bag of dry kitten food, a bag of non-clumping litter, a small litter box and nail clippers. The kid grabbed a new canister of formula and patted it on top of the pile.

"You'll need some Neosporin for yourself — you can get a staph infection from their dirty little claws," the clerk added, nodding his head towards the small cuts on his fingers. "My aunt took in a stray cat, it cut her and off to the hospital she went."

"Exciting story," Jin replied simply, his tone conveying the opposite.

He shrugged, "Mind asking why you didn't drop them off at the animal shelter on the way here? You must have passed it— its literally down the street."

He wasn't wrong — Kung Jin had past it on his way here, but it was closed. There had been a small drop box to drop animals off after hours, but after the fact they just got dumped in a dumpster hours earlier, it didn't feel all that right. Besides they needed food. The former theif knew how it felt to go days without food, and he didn't feel it right to make the kittens wait any longer. He'd check in on the shelter tomorrow, but for now he take care of them.

"All they had was a shitty drop-box. Plus I asked the kids and they didn't seem to keen on wanting to go down the chute," Kung Jin explained, a small grin tugging at the corner his mouth.

The employee scratched the back of his neck, "Yeah, I don't like that thing either. Reminds me of the fireplace from _Home Alone_ for some reason."

He brushed his joke off; deciding to change the subject: "Do I have enough shit for one night?" he asked, nodding his head towards the items he was forced to hold. "I just came in here for food."

"You can never know for sure," the clerk winked, "Besides, I'm still doing my job."

He blinked blankly at him; not amused by his joke and at the feeling his wallet was being taken advantage of.

The kid waved a hand, "I'm kidding. You should be good to go. I'd sell you an expensive toy, but you wouldn't find it funny."

_Oh, I'd find it funny. Especially after beating you to death with it._

"I'll find a shoe lace," Kung Jin answered with a dull tone. "I'm sure they won't know the difference."

The clerk chuckled before he passed Jin and walked with him to the register. He discarded the contents on the counter before he went over to the box to make sure everyone was accounted for. He heard the register beep alive as the employee pulled each item across the counter; a small smile on his face as he watched Jin for a moment before turning his attention back on the register.

Kung Jin lifted the coat and all five faces, who were meandering around the box, suddenly came wobbling towards him; screaming their little kitten heads off.

"Would you all just relax?" Jin insisted, throwing his hand towards the register, "I'm buying your crap."

The orange tabby, the self-proclaimed leader of the bunch, squeaked loudly and reminded him that they were hungry.

"I haven't forgotten you're hungry, you tiny, bossy jerk."

The dirty, white one gave a small mew, turning his sapphire eyes to Jin with a blank look. Almost as if saying: _We are just making sure. You cannot blame us._ The brown and gray one also looked at him, meowing in agreement.

"Ya, Ya, I got you all," He grumbled into the box.

The black one, who had been in the corner, suddenly charged forward and tackled the orange one to the ground. The orange kitten seemed more than displeased with the sneak attack and meowed in annoyance, trying to twist around and kick his brother off. The black hunter sank its teeth into the scruff of orange's neck and earned a genuine cry of pain from the one he was assaulting.

Kung Jin's eyes narrowed and reached into the box, prying the two apart by wiggling his index fingers between them. "Hey! Knock it off you two."

The black one looked at him with confused jade eyes, while the orange one meowed at him with irritation; almost screaming at Jin that he didn't need his intervention.

"Ya you're welcome — you were only getting your ass kicked," Kung Jin snorted at him. The orange squeaked angrily at him, and he meowed childishly back, mocking his demanding tone.

"Meow _yourself_ , jerk."

"Do you talk with all your strays or do I need to call the asylum and tell them to expect one more?"

Kung Jin frowned heavily at the clerk's sarcastic comment behind him. Reminding him that he was doing the dialogue-thingy with the cats, he was trying to forget he did in the alley.

_Ugh. Great. There were witnesses now._

The side of his mouth picked up in bitter embarrassment. "How much you stealing from me?" Jin spat, nodding his head towards the items already packed in the bags.

"72.13," he informed nonchalantly.

His eyebrows shot up at the absurd price: "70 bucks? Are you kidding? There's like 6 items!"

The clerk shrugged his shoulder and replied indifferently, "Welcome to parenthood," He tsked, clicking his tongue suddenly and shook his head, "And you didn't even buy them a toy, either. Shame on you."

To make matters worse, all the kittens meowed at him all at once; as if they had overheard and were complaining that there was no toy. Kung Jin felt his eye twitch.

_"No toy? This is an outrage!"_

_"What will we do?!"_

_"How will we go on?!"_

_"Call the authorities! Have them drag him in by his ponytail!"_

_"I ate a bug once. It was crunchy."_

The store clerk started to laugh at the kittens crying from the box, completely humored by Jin's aggravated expression and the yelling that the kittens agreed with him.

After a minute of constant meowing, Kung Jin threw his hands in the air impatiently and gave in. "I'll get them a damn toy! By the Gods!"

He heard the clerk snicker under his breath, the kittens mewing continuously as Jin marched to the cat aisle and grabbed the first thing he found which was a stick with a toy mouse that chattered mechanically with each movement. To add insult, the toy chirped with each heated footstep back towards the register.

Step. _Squeak._ Step. _Squeak._ Step. _Squeak._

Of course, he had to grab the most annoying thing he could find.

The peeved Shaolin gave the pet store employee a resentful frown before he slammed the toy against the counter, earning a strained squeak from the toy, without breaking eye contact with him.

He grinned and beeped the toy across the glass, punched a few buttons to add the toy, and then told him with a blank tone: "80.45. Debit or Credit?"

"Have you ever ate your teeth for breakfast before?" Kung Jin huffed, completely irritable at how much the toy bumped up the price.

"It ain't my fault you grabbed that one," the clerk fired back with a casual tone.

Grumbling with a sour look on his face, Kung Jin pulled out his brown leather wallet out of his back, jean pocket and pulled out what money he had in it. Unfortunately, he thought he had more, but came up 7 bucks short.

"Oh _noooo_ ," Jin commented with a mock saddened tone, reaching into the bag of the stupid toy he was forced to buy. "Sorry, no toy. We can't afford it, guys."

The kittens squeaked in the box, seemingly out of anguish that they toy would not be apart of the purchase after all.

The white one looked at him once more and squeaked ferociously: " _You will pay for your foul transgression, Kung Jin. This will not be forgotten. Mark my words and quiver in terror."_

The orange chimed in as well, more demanding than the white one: " _YEAH! You're a shithead—and where the hell is my kitten food?! I'm gonna kitten slap the shit out of you, punk!"_

The other kittens mewed pitifully as well.

"Oh, grow up all of you," Kung Jin shot at the box.

"Oh look. I found some money. I guess it goes back in the bag," he heard the clerk say behind him.

Jin raised an eyebrow as the employee reached into his own pocket and pulled out a 10 dollar bill. He immediately felt his face drop in exasperation when he plucked it from his hand and put it back in the plastic bag with a smug look.

_You charitable dick._

"My fluffy brats thank you," was all he could muster politely through his teeth.

He laughed, "Call it a _'don't bother me after hours'_ fund."

"Don't worry — I won't be," the Shaolin disclosed.

"You're welcome by the way, douche," he replied with an ire scoff. Jin didn't say anything, rolled his eyes and instead grabbed the plastic bags by looping them through his forearm before picking up the box once more.

The kitten tumbled, having a hard time gaining balance as he walked to the door. Regrettably, the door was had a knob, and he had his hands full. The employee noticed and ran over to help him. He turned the handle, let him exit which Jin thanked with a slight nod, before flipping off the lights and locking up once more.

The Shaolin stopped for a moment, feeling the food and litter weigh down his forearm heavily and he hesitated; wondering how far he make it to the base before the bag would eventually tear. He let out a sigh. He was stuck in this mess, no point in complaining about it. Kung Jin marched in the direction of the base before he heard the sound of a car pull up next to him.

The employee must of had the same idea that the bag wouldn't hold, or felt sorry because he rolled down the passenger side window.

"Hey, do you need a ride?" he questioned sincerely.

He shook his head, "I can manage, thanks."

On cue, the plastic bag broke and spilled the bag of food, litter and the stupid toy across the pavement. Kung Jin threw his head back and groaned: "Are you kiddin' me?!"

He heard the car door open and saw the clerk come around and collected the fallen items from the ground. He started place them through the open passenger side window on the floor and before he could protest, he interrupted.

"Hey, idiot. I know you're proud, but get in the car," he said, jerking his thumb impatiently towards the car door.

As much as the hot-headed Shaolin didn't want to admit it, he knew he could use the ride. He doubted the kid was a serial killer out to steal his fuzzy companions so besides being annoying, there wasn't much for Kung Jin to worry about. Reluctantly, he opened the passenger side door and climbed into the blue Ford Taurus. He dumped the bags on the ground and settled the box on his lap as the clerk jumped in.

He closed the driver side door and closed the passenger side window by pressing the button off to the side. Kung Jin lifted the coat off and looked down at the baby cats looking up at him as they drove away from the pet store.

"Where to?" he asked Jin.

"Special Forces Base," he instructed him. "It's by the docks near—"

"Yeah, yeah I know I pass it on my way to work," he said impassively.

Kung Jin let out a small _'pfft'_ before he reached down and pulled apart the dry kitten food bag scooped up a handful. He placed the handful in the box and watched as the tiny bits of kibble roll around like little, edible marbles.

The kittens took notice and started to hunt down the kibbles one at a time. Each of them going their separate directions and nibbling the bits loudly. The black cat sailed across the box, pouncing on a kibble that tried to escape his tiny little clutches, that rolled away anyway; all the kitten managed to do was hit his head against the side of the box. Jin laughed at that, watching him stumble away in embarrassment.

_Quite the majestic little hunter, aren't ya?_

The clerk leaned over and looked inside the box, gave a tiny laugh and said: "Looks like _Hungry, Hungry Hippos_."

Kung Jin laughed softly at that; he had to agree it did look like the game.

"You're not right _on_ the base are you?" he asked suddenly; concern in his voice. "Does Special Forces allow you guys to have pets?"

"I wasn't planning on telling anyone," Kung Jin told him. "Just going to take care of them for one night."

"Hmm," the clerk mused. "Can I ask how you are going to get them in? I don't think they will think you're selling candy bars in the box."

"I'll be fine," the Shaolin reassured him.

Although, he did have to ask himself the same question in his head. He doubted that sneaking all of the noisy, hungry kittens in would be easy. The night certainly hadn't been so far.

Why stop now and make it easy for him?

Kung Jin felt a headache forming for the third time that tonight.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3  
** **Purr-suasion**

* * *

As they crossed the overpass, heading towards the familiar but shrouded dark square outline of Special Forces Base, Kung Jin couldn't help but feel a small stone of nervousness rest in him.

After years of being a thief, and when he was to the skill level that people sought his services, he had always had a plan beforehand. He would spend a couple of days at the most to scope out the weak points, memorize routines and look for any potential problems. Now, he was trying to come up with some half-ass plan with only a couple of minutes left on the clock.

He had gotten into locations that had the same amount of security — one of them being Qincheng Prison, which on occasion he couldn't help comparing the base to when he succumbed to bouts of boredom. However, Jin had always been on his own and never had passengers— especially ones that were infants and with bags of groceries on top of it all.

The usually cocky and confident Shaolin, who thought he could handle any covert operation, felt less than reassured he could get the 5 kittens into the base the closer their destination loomed in the distance.

They passed over the bridge, the only sound in the car were the radio with the volume set so low that they could barely hear any of the songs. The only other noticeable noises came from the kittens that meowed and scampered around the box; constantly looking up at him with the curiosity as if questioning him what the plan of action was or when they were going to eat. Jin guessed the latter even though he couldn't help but think they were asking the former as well.

Staring at them grew to be a distraction, so reluctantly Jin placed the leather jacket back over the top so he could gather a game plan; their adorable mugs kept sidetracking him.

They passed the _Gas-and-Go_ on their right and the small playground near the apartment complexes grew closer in the distance— only a couple of miles left.

Kung Jin immediately felt a frown form on his face. Soon they would pass the _YMCA_ and then another bridge to the shipyard where the Special Forces Base was neighbored to.

The one thing he did have to his advantage was that he had a pass to get on the base. However, there were always guards stationed at the entrances. Jin knew as soon as he saw it, the guard would most definitely ask what was in the box if he didn't hear the meowing first.

Even, if he did make it past the gate, his next obstacle would be avoiding the suspicious eyes of other people on the base to get to his room. Not an easy feat considering the box and groceries was an eyesore that would immediately draw attention.

He let out an agitated sigh.

There was no way he could go through the front door.

The only thing he could think of on short notice was to ignore going through the front gate and sneak the kittens in one at a time and then follow the same procedure with the food.

He had snuck in and out of the base before; the oak tree by the perimeter wall where the obstacle course was the perfect ladder for getting in and out. The only dilemma, the housing units were a good mile away and there was a camera that swiveled every now and then along the top of the wall.

He had been successful in avoiding detection so far— always managing to time it right—but he was wary about using multiple attempts and testing his luck.

However, with cameras stationed along nearly every wall, he knew eventually after many attempts to and fro, that one would catch a glimpse of him jumping the wall. If found, he knew there would be a barrage of questions from Cage Sr. or Jr. — or worse, the General— about why he was sneaking in rather than just going through the front door.

Either way, he was dreading it all, but he knew his best option would be to sneak them in one at a time by jumping the wall.

Hopefully, the driver would be okay with him taking the time he needed. Grudgingly and now that he had something of a half-ass plan that sounded doable, he needed the driver's compliance. Jin frowned sorely at the thought. Even he knew he probably hadn't made the best first impression.

The car ride was even worse than the store visit. Most of it had consisted of them listening to the radio in silence and the occasional awkward cough. Unfortunately, the quiet in the car didn't help to alleviate the uncomfortable tension exaggerated by the periodic side-glance at each other. Jin didn't care for him and the pet store clerk knew that too, which is why they both refrained from any small talk.

Jin did appreciate the lift; it was a nice gesture especially considering how he had barged in on him after closing hours. However, it didn't mean that he couldn't help but feel that he had been overcharged for all the cat crap.

Reluctant and annoyance with each other aside, he was going need the clerk's help until he got all the kittens in the base. He had a feeling is the kid was willing to give him a lift, perhaps another small favor wouldn't be something he would turn down; Jin couldn't think of a reason he would say no and if he did he could always persuade him.

Although, he could be wrong. He only knew the guy for a half an hour. Maybe he was as sick of Jin as he was of him and wanted to get him out of the car the first opportunity he had.

Kung Jin sighed and looked out the window as they came to a red light. Since it was only a matter of time before they got within the perimeters of the base, he decided to finally address his plan of action to him.

"So, take the next street to the right after this," Jin instructed him.

The clerk's eyebrows furrowed in confusion: "You trying to go to the gym at 11 at night? You get to the base by taking the left street."

Jin rolled his eyes; he knew about the _YMCA_ he was referring to. "We are still going to the base, but we are going a different way."

"Whatever," the clerk answered, the exasperation in his sigh evident.

The Shaolin glanced out of the corner of his eye to see a yellow taxi pull up by their car, waiting for the light to turn as well.

Kung Jin felt something fuzzy brush against the surface of his fingers and clamp down sharply.

He looked down to see little white paws resting on his ring and middle finger and a small white head poke its way over the rim of the box.

He had placed the leather coat over the box just so they didn't distract him from his thoughts. Apparently, the dirty white kitten did not like being veiled and had poked his head over the edge of the box for Jin's attention.

Sapphire colored eyes looked up at Jin and fought against the weight of the jacket from sending him back into the box. Jin could hear his back feet scratch against the inside of the cardboard for leverage as he clung to Jin's fingers like a tiny rock climber.

_"I have sprung from my prison to remind you, Kung Jin, you need to show patience. He has aided us more than what was obligated of him."_

Those large azure eyes melted the ice around Kung Jin's cold and indifferent demeanor for a moment. Jin looked down at the ivory kitten with a small smile pulling at the corner of his mouth.

Gently, he lifted him under his armpits and picked him up from the box. He hated feeling the protrusion of bones beneath the layer of fluff and skin, it made him feel guilty for holding him in such a manner, so he opted for cupping under his bottom in his palm while he cradled him against his chest.

The white kitten gazed up at him and meowed softly. " _This position is much more suitable. I thank you, Kung Jin."_

 _"You know your not really talking. It's just me, going crazy after being around Cage. Her insanity has rubbed off."_ Jin internally scolded the kitten; as if the two were having a telepathic communication. _So this is what conversation between Takeda and his Dad must be like. Except... I'm just going nuts._

The white kitten looked at up at him and suddenly, Jin felt the small tremors from its chest vibrate against his fingers and heard the sound of purring emanating from him. Jin refused to budge as his heavy frown morphed on his face; fighting the urge to smile again.

"I am immune to your adorable nature," Jin told him, although he felt unconvinced by his statement. "Don't even try to win me over with that head tilt thing you guys do."

Much to his displeasure, the white kitten cocked his head to the side in the most adorable and perplexed way possible that made Jin let out a groan.

"Not to interrupt the cute _Adopt a Pet Commercial_ moment, but do you know those guys?"

The suddenly concerned question from the clerk made Jin snap back to reality and turn his head towards who he was indicating.

Kung Jin was vaguely aware that the light had turned green, he could feel the emerald blaring hue from the streetlight cast a blinding shadow on his face, but both cars stayed where they were. The street was dead, which allowed Takeda and Jacqui, who had been in the taxi car, to venture out and look in at Jin holding a kitten in his hands in the opposite car.

Jin froze like a mouse cornered by a chief that caught him stealing cheese. His eyes widened in alarm before his head dropped in embarrassment and let out a sigh to accompany his feelings of being caught red-handed before he even got to the base.

Takeda tapped on the window with a finger and the pet store clerk rolled down the passenger side window with the automatic switch. Kung Jin, very aware he was holding one of his lovable and fluffy contraband in his hands for both of them to see, kept his eyes glued on the dashboard in front of him.

He could see the Shirai Ryu ninja vaguely cock a smile out the corner of his eye as he crossed his arms over the window's ledge, leaned on it and continued to smiledat the little bundle in the Shaolin's hands.

"So we made you so mad that you went out and found a new friend to hang out with?" Takeda teased. The white kitten looked at Takeda and squeaked in his direction.

Jacqui leaned in as well and shrugged at Takeda, "Yeah, can't say I blame him. He's cute. But seriously, Jin, why they hell do you have a kitten?"

"Trust, me it's a long freaking story," Jin groaned impatiently.

The drivers of both cars noticed the headlights of a few cars coming in their in their direction behind them and so did the passengers. Takeda gave a glance and then hurried with Jacqui back to the car. "There's a park— we'll meet you over there for story time."

The taxi took off first which allowed the pet store clerk to follow behind in the taxi.

"I'm just going to assume you are close to those two," the clerk said out loud, almost as if musing to himself.

"You're a sharp one aren't ya?" Jin muttered with a roll of his eyes.

"They work on the base with you?" he asked.

"Yeah— they're my teammates," Jin replied.

"I guess that means your secret is out," the pet store clerk sighed, nodding his head towards the white kitten in Jin's clutches.

Jin felt the side of his mouth tug up with an unsure grimace. The white kitten also looked up at him, his head tilting once again at the Shaolin. " _Do you suspect that Takeda and Jacqueline Briggs would inform the General, Kung Jin?"_

_"I don't know fluffy. Takeda probably would of let it slide, but Briggs follows the rules like a sheep."_

The ivory cat purred, blinking softly at him. " _Fret not. I believe there will be a different outcome based on what I have seen by the reaction of Jacqueline Briggs."_

Kung Jin pinched the bridge of his nose, rolling his eyes at his own lunacy. _I'm having an internal conversation with a cat and I'm making it sound like freakin' Raiden. Get a grip, Jin!_

The Archer felt a slight uncomfortable wave of despondency wash over him. He honestly did not know what to expect from Takeda or Jacqui. Perhaps if it had just been his Shirai Ryu friend, it would have been no issue with him holding a secret. Jacqui was by the books however and doubt would run and tell General Blade as soon as she got on the base.

"Listen," Kung Jin began, his tone solemn. "If I can't get these little guys into the base... you might need to take them."

There was a hopefulness that he was forcing himself to hide in his voice. In all honesty, it was the best idea he had so far. Let the pet store clerk take them. He apparently knew more about taking care of cats than the former thief did. Jin didn't even want them to begin with. He had already paid him by buying all the things that he clerk would need anyway. It was the best option for everyone.

Unfortunately, Kung Jin was not going to get off that easy.

"I can't have any more pets in my rental and besides— finders keepers," the clerk refused sternly. "I'll help you out tonight, but I'm sorry I can't keep them."

Jin huffed. "Great. Thanks a lot."

"You're welcome," the employee bit back with a indignant sarcastic tone.

The kitten in his hands looked up at him and began to climb up his white shirt. Jin felt the sharp, needle-like claws dig through the fabric and into the flesh of his chest. Frankly, it hurt and he did not like it. Kung Jin grabbed the kitten, wrapping his fingers around his stomach and pulled. Like bubblegum stuck on the sidewalk, the kitten's claws remained latched onto the shirt and pulled it with him.

The kitten clung to the shirt like velcro as the Shaolin worked to remove each digit one by one. The kitten seemed to glare at him, meowing harshly at Jin.

_"How dare you consider your abandonment of us! We are not litter to be discarded because you feel inadequate to the responsibilities!"_

Suddenly, as if he had heard the argument taking place, the orange kitten poked his head through the leather jacket and flopped on Jin's lap ungracefully; tumbling like a ball for a moment.

He stumbled around, just as Jin put the white kitten on his lap and formed a wall with his arms as the cats sat on his thighs. The orange tabby yelled at him, his ears flapping back in anger.

_"You're not getting rid of us that easily, you dick! You pulled us out of the dumpster and you're going to throw us away just like Tubby? Shame on you and shame on your ponytail!"_

Kung Jin noticed the park in the distance and could barely make out the silhouette of Takeda and Jacqui sitting under the bench under the large oak tree on the outside of the playground equipment. The park was abandoned and the only light source came from the tan glow of the streetlights that were placed around the perimeter of the parking lot. Both of the lovebirds sat on the bench gave each other a glance before looking back at Jin.

Kung Jin could read Takeda's lips. _"Looks like Cassie didn't need to be his wingman after all."_

Jacqui gave a teasing smirk in Jin's direction.

The Shaolin narrowed his eyes at the telepath. _Shut the hell up Takeda, before I strangle you with your own whips._

The car pulled up to the parking lot and Kung Jin noticed Takeda and Jacqui lift themselves off the bench and walked towards the car. Kung Jin saw the cab parked off in the farthest corner of the lot; as if instructed to wait for further orders as the meter ran.

Jin sighed, placed both of kittens back in the box with their siblings and exited the car with the box in his hands. He felt them clamor around for footing as he approached his comrades.

Takeda seemed receptive while Jacqui approached with a stoic expression and her arms crossed over her chest. Jin immediately frowned as soon as he saw the puzzled look she wore. He heard the driver's side door close and looked over his shoulder to see the clerk lean against the door and reach for his phone in his coat pocket. He stayed against the door, texting and gave Jin his space.

Kung Jin interrupted Takeda before he could ask about the cats.

"Where's Sergeant Drunk?" Kung Jin quipped with a flat tone. It didn't go unnoticed that Cassie wasn't with them.

Takeda scratched the back of his neck sheepishly as Jacqui gave a chuckle.

"She was singing ' _Mickey'_ on the karaoke before we called it a night. Mr. Cage is on his way to pick her up before she sends the rest of the bar running with her singing," Jacqui told him. She shook her head. "I love her, but girlfriend can't sing to save her life."

"I think I heard dogs howling before we left," Takeda ridiculed softly. The ninja nodded his head towards the clerk playing on his phone. "Who's your new human friend?"

"Nobody," Jin replied immediately. "He's just giving me a lift to the base."

"Mmmhm," Takeda mused with a skeptical smirk. He glanced down at the box and looked back at Kung Jin with a pointed look. "And your tiny furry friends?"

Kung Jin walked towards the grass, both of his teammates following behind him as he lay the box on the grass. Takeda and Jacqui crouched down, all of them sitting on their knees as Jin removed the leather coat from the top of the cardboard box.

The five kitten faces gazed up at the three humans looking down on them and squeaked loudly in unison. Takeda gave Jacqui side-glance and Jin noticed a smile forming on her face. Even the tomboy's firm resolve was broken down by the sight of them.

"When I was leaving the bar I saw a guy throwing them in the dumpster," Kung Jin told them, plucking the white kitten from the box. He settled his butt on the grass and let the white one rest on his lap. The white kitten gazed at Jacqui and Takeda before returning his attention back to the Shaolin and meowing quietly.

"I couldn't walk by," Jin admitted with a weary sigh. "I was just going to bring them to the base, take care of them and then find them a better cat owner than me."

"Jin," Jacqui sighed, her tone stern. "You know there are _no_ pets allowed in the base."

"No shit, Briggs. That's why I said it's not permanent," Jin huffed. He shook his head, giving a sigh and stroking the fur of the white kitten. The kitten's eyes closed at the touch, apparently liking it. "But I'm stuck with them until they are better. I pulled them out of the dumpster and they're mine for a little bit whether I like it or not."

All of them heard scratching and noticed the gray and white kitten hurdling out of the box. He managed to wiggle his way over the ledge before Jacqui caught him before he could fall to the grass. Takeda reached inside and plucked the calico, who was meowing in vain that his sibling had abandoned him. The orange and black kitten remained inside, both of them on their hind legs seeking attention and meowing at both Takeda and Jacqui.

Takeda lifted the bronze and black kitten, lifting him to eye level with a hand under his furry bottom. "What? You jealous because nobody is giving you attention, little guy?"

Jacqui tilted her head to the side, inspecting the kitten Takeda was holding as she held the gray and white kitten to her chest. "That's a girl."

Takeda furrowed his eyebrows. "How do you know?"

"She's a calico— all calicos are girls," Jacqui answered.

"Oh," was all that Takeda said. He placed the kitten on his lap. "I'm sorry about that ma'am."

The white, amber and black mixed kitten just stared at him, blinking slightly before she flopped on her back. Takeda wiggled his finger at her, causing the kitten to playfully bat at his fingers with excitement. She hooked her nails into Takeda's fingers.

"Ow... I know you're a girl and I should be nice but that hurts," Takeda laughed.

The calico brought Takeda's fingers down to her mouth and clamped down as her back feet started to kick his palm and wrist relentlessly. It reminded Kung Jin of kangaroos and he smiled at it.

_"I am a vicious killer. Fear me apprentice of Scorpion."_

Jacqui also smiled at it before Kung Jin turned his attention towards her. "You know stuff about cats?"

Jacqui shrugged her shoulders. "We had cats in the barn."

"Then you can help get them back to fighting shape," Takeda suddenly piped up. Kung Jin raised an eyebrow at how eager he sounded.

Jacqui shook her head. "Hold on, now. I didn't say I was going to help you bring them to the base. I'm not Cassie— I actually like following the rules."

"Military stick in the mud— go figure," Kung Jin mumbled under his breath, earning a glare from the Specialist. Jin sighed; knowing his comment was not helping to sway her to his side.

"It would just be until they weren't skin and bones— trust me I'm not thinking of starting an illegal a zoo in my room anytime soon. I can't get them to the base by myself," the Shaolin confessed.

Jacqui let out an unenthusiastic sigh, the corner of her mouth tugging up with skepticism. She shook her head and Jin could tell she was already crumbling to give in.

She tried her best to hold in her smile, her mouth twitching to keep it in a straight line.

"C'mon Jacqui," Takeda pleaded softly. "They need it."

To make matters worse for her and bring her over to their side, her reservations began to vanish when the gray and white kitten lifted his tiny paw and softly grazed Jacqui's chin; resting its paw on her chin. The gray kitten looked up at her and she laughed softly under her breath at the display of affection.

The gray kitten mewed at her. " _Please Jacqueline Briggs. We need your help."_

To make matters worse, Takeda suddenly came over to Jacqui's side, held the calico's paw with his hand and stroked it against the Specialist's cheek like he was removing dirt from her face with a wash cloth. Jacqui instantly frowned with irritation. Kung Jin could tell it was working to convince her and she did not like it.

"C'mon... look how cute I am. My paws are so soft. You know you wanna," Takeda teased with a smile as Jacqui frowned incredibly hard in annoyance at Takeda. Each stroke from the kitten's paw causing her to grow more agitated.

"Alright fine. I hate the two of you," Jacqui growled.

Kung Jin looked down at the white kitten in his lap who lifted its head at the Shaolin and meowed softly. " _See Kung Jin_ — _you worry too much. Jacqueline Briggs is a worthy ally in our endeavor."_

_"You are not Raiden!"_

The white kitten cocked his head at Jin. _"Who is this Raiden you speak of? Is he a feline as well?"_

The group suddenly turned to see the pet store clerk coming towards them, looking somewhat disgruntled and impatient. "Hey, I'm not trying to be rude but I was wondering if you still needed me to give you a lift to the base."

Kung Jin frowned heavily at him and was about to tell him to hit the road until Takeda interrupted as he stood up.

"Hey, sorry we weren't trying to ignore you," Takeda held out a hand, the other cradling the calico to his chest. "I'm Takeda, this is my girlfriend Jacqui and you've met Kung Jin."

The clerk took Takeda's hand as he gave a friendly smile. "Jasper. Nice to meet you guys," he said with a warm smile that was followed by a yawn.

"Tell you the truth — we are still trying to figure out a way to get these little guys in," Takeda admitted. "You wouldn't mind hanging out a little while longer just in case we need you?"

"No, that's fine," Jasper responded with an indifferent shrug. "Just gotta tell my sister to let my dog out. I don't want to come home to a nice brown accident by the front door again."

Takeda and Jacqui chuckled quietly while Jin rolled his eyes at the comment. Jasper walked away for a moment and dialed his phone before placing it to his ear, leaving the three alone once again.

Jacqui nodded her head over to the cab. "Well, since we got a ride — I'll go pay the cab driver before we can't afford it."

Jacqui placed the gray and white kitten back in the box before she rose. Takeda reached into his pocket and pulled out his half of the cash and handed it to her before she walked off.

With Jasper on the phone and Jacqui off to pay the cab driver, Takeda glanced over at Kung Jin with a humored smile that he didn't need to be telepathic to read what Takeda was thinking.

"He works at the pet store and offered me a lift after I bought the food," Kung Jin snapped, the white kitten sitting silently in his lap. "I'm not marrying him, so you can wipe that stupid grin off your face."

Takeda shrugged innocently. "I was just curious how you two knew each other."

The telepath looked over at Jasper and then back to Jin briefly before looking down at the kitten in his lap, who was nibbling on Takeda's fingers like a dog with a chew toy.

The orange kitten roared from within his confines of the box, specifically at Kung Jin. The Shaolin let out an obnoxious groan. "For the love of the Elder Gods will you be quiet, already!"

The golden tabby squeaked defiantly at him. " _I will not be told to shut up, ponytail swine! I am a ferocious lion—fear my roar, Shaolin Duck!"_

Takeda snickered at the kitten. "Wow, he really doesn't like you."

"The feeling is mutual," Kung Jin remarked with a dour tone. "He hasn't stopped bitching at me. I think I might name that one Cassie if it's a girl."

Takeda laughed. "Uh oh. Don't start naming them. You might get attached to them, but since we are naming them— that white one has to be named RJ."

"RJ?" Kung Jin questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Raiden Junior," the Shirai Ryu explained. "That's who he reminds me of."

Kung Jin rolled his eyes. _Of course, I couldn't be the only one to think that he looks like Raiden._

The white kitten looked up at Jin and the Archer looked down at the kitten. The blue eyes blinked blankly at him before he mewed. _"RJ... the name is a suitable moniker. Very, well. I shall except the name even though I do not know who I am named after. Also, my siblings and I still require sustenance. Our hunger pains us still."_

Kung Jin rolled his eyes.

_Yeah. You're definitely Raiden._

The black kitten within the box jumped for the edge, scrambled to get a foothold and ended up tumbling back into the box. The black kitten stalked around the box absently, mewing for an escape he couldn't find.

Suddenly and without provocation, the orange one yelled at the ebony one in the same distempered and authoritative manner into his face. The black kitten stared for a moment before he wiggled his butt, launched himself at the orange kitten, grabbed him by the scruff of the neck. The fought against each other, the orange one peeved he was losing and tried to kick the black one off. This time, Jin didn't intervene and instead smiled.

_Kick that tiny jerk's ass, panther cat._

A minute had passed before the cab driver took off and Jacqui returned. She stood over the two boys with her hands on her hips. "So what was your plan to sneak the munchkins into the base ,anyway?" she inquired with a dubious tone. "Hop the wall with them one by one?"

Jin grumbled as a response, confirming to Takeda and Jacqui her speculation was correct.

"So what's _your_ plan?" the Shaolin fired back.

"We could do the same scheme, just split up and regroup," the ninja offered after a moment of silence. "We have three people. You and I will take however many we can carry and Jacqui and Jasper can use the car to drive on the base. We jump the wall and Jacqui can meet us in your room."

"There's only one problem," Jin groaned. "I have cat crap to carry inside too."

Takeda crossed his arms over his chest. "We can do that last. Priority is the poof balls inside first."

"There's another problem," Jacqui interrupted. "How are we going to keep them quiet? I know Freddie at the gate won't be searching in the trunk so Jasper and I can get the cat stuff in. But these guys are loud and wiggling around. Somebody's gonna notice."

Takeda frowned instantly; Jacqui had a valid point. Even though the base would be somewhat dead at this time at night, the sound of the kittens and their movements alone through their clothing wouldn't go unnoticed on their trek to the housing units.

"Fine. How do we get them to shut up then?" Jin demanded. Kung Jin noticed Jasper open the passenger side door and grab something from the bag of groceries. He walked over to the group with the canister of kitten formula in his hands as he pocketed his cell phone.

"Why don't you try feeding them?" He said, tossing the jar at Jin who caught it in one hand. "They're hungry and that's probably why they are meowing. Feed them and they might go to sleep."

Kung Jin gave Jasper a glower that he had obviously been eavesdropping despite Takeda and Jacqui brushing it off. Jasper returned the look towards the Shaolin.

Takeda shrugged. "That's not a bad idea at all. If they fall asleep, it'll be a piece of cake getting them in."

"One problem, _Sherlock_ ," Kung Jin grumbled at Jasper, reading the back of the kitten formula. "We need warm water and bowls to feed them with. Where are we gonna find hot water?"

"Hey _Watson_ , in case you didn't notice, there was a gas station nearby. I'll go nuke some water bottles in a microwave, grab some paper bowls and be back," Jasper shot back.

Kung Jin narrowed his eyes and looked down at the white kitten who had his ears back.

"You want one of us to go with you?" Takeda asked, calling out to pet store clerk.

Jasper waved a dismissive hand at the Shirai Ryu without looking behind him. "It's cool. I'll be back in five."

All three of them watched as Jasper get into his car and drove off. Kung Jin scoffed. "What blew up his ass?"

"He's annoyed with how you've been treating him and he just got chewed out by his sister," Takeda answered with a matter of fact tone. "He's a nice guy, cut him some slack."

Kung Jin didn't answer, instead focused on the kitten in his lap that was staring just as judgmentally up at him. " _I warned you Kung Jin about mistreating our friend. You have upset him. An apology might prove to be the smoothest course of action when the one called Jasper returns."_

_"Shut up, RJ."_

_Your attitude is unhelpful, Kung Jin."_

_"Your fluffiness is unhelpful, pest. Can't you say anything helpful?"_

_"I would, if I was capable of speaking and not essentially one arguing with myself. I am merely a vessel for you inner thoughts."_

_"Good point."_

Jacqui sat on the grass, joining them as she looked inside the box. She gave a small chuckle. "Good thing Cassie isn't here, she probably would have blown our cover. She can't keep a secret when she gets drunk."

"Wonder if Mr. Cage has picked her up yet," Takeda stated, his tone slightly curious.

"I will bet you five bucks, he is on that stage singing with Cassie drunk at a table watching as we speak," Jacqui laughed.

* * *

 _Meanwhile...  
_ _Bucky's Karaoke Bar_

Johnny Cage was completely sober except for the half drunken beer that lay next to Cassie's gin and tonic on the table. It wasn't his first time having to drag his daughter home after a night out, and like most of those times, she was stubborn to leave. However, Johnny knew exactly how to get her to agree to go home.

Complete parental embarrassment.

He had a lot of practice and it worked every time.

The bar was somewhat dead since the blonde came in with her friends, and many of them departed as soon as she started singing. The only ones that remained were a few patrons that were cheering the former action star on and the bartender that seemed to be in as much pain as the actor's daughter.

Cassie had her chin in her hands with a complete look of abashed agony on her face as she watched her father singing Queen's _'Bohemian Rhapsody.'_

Johnny jumped off the stage, running over to Cassie who gave a terrified look that her father was drawing attention to her. Cassie wanted nothing more than to turn into liquid and disappear into the cracks of the wooden floorboards.

"Thunderbolts of lightning. VERY, VERY FRIGHTENING! Come on pumpkin you know the words!"

As soon as Johnny pointed the microphone in her direction, Cassie shot up from her chair as fast as her inebriated state could muster, drunkenly staggered out the door and left the bar without paying.

Johnny cracked a grin as he signaled the DJ to cut the music, handed the microphone to him paid the tab. He caught up with her and guided her to his sports car parked across the street — the same one she was already heading towards.

"I hate... I hate that...that works every fuckin' time... you suck Dad," Cassie snarled as she curled her lip up angrily at him. Johnny wrapped an arm around her waist and helped guide her to the car.

"Hey, at least I made it in time before the vomit monsoon started," Johnny mentioned, grimacing as he recalled the last time.

As soon as he mentioned puke, Cassie retched and spilled the contents of her night onto the sidewalk near the passenger side door.

Johnny frowned. "Or not. Guess there is always next time."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**   
**Everybody Wants To Be A Cat**

* * *

Thankful that there was only one other person in the gas station, Jasper did his best to suppress a yawn as he walked past the stacks of cheap packaged food and tried not to gag on the horrendous aroma of the hot dogs cooking nearby. He glanced over the abominations as they grilled like sunburned tourists under the light of the grill. The pet store clerk recalled smelling puke that smelled better and the donuts sitting next to the microwave looked faker than the wax apples that sat in his aunt's dining room table. Other than that, the gas station was a carbon copy of every other respectable gas station. Not creepy, not fancy, just standard.

He grabbed the first water bottle out of the plastic bag and could feel the eyes of the elderly and grumpy cashier hit him in the back of the head. He tried to ignore him and the fact that he looked like the reincarnation of Albert Fish. Jasper eyed the hot dogs warily again and couldn't help but hope they were not made of children.

_A gas station worker that turned out to be a serial killer. Wouldn't be the worst thing that happened to me._

The thought of the guy with the kittens that hadn't even said 'thank you' once earned a scowl from Jasper as he set the first water bottle in the microwave. He tried to remind himself that it wasn't the microwave he was mad at, although the not too gentle slam caused the cashier's eyes to lift from his magazine.

"Are you looking to purchase it as well? " the cashier, a rail-thin man in 50's, barked. His pale but skeletal face creased into a frown as his bushy white eyebrows bridged together. "I said you could use it, not _break_ it."

The exhausted and frustrated pet store employee winced slightly and let out a sigh to revival Charlie Brown's. "Sorry. Just having a weird night."

"I agree. It isn't every day that someone asks if they can microwave water," the cashier commented with an indifferent tone, his eyes returning to his magazine.

"First time for me as well," Jasper replied with a light chuckle.

The cashier ignored him and he sighed. It was a first for him and he was annoyed that he had fallen so deep into the situation he was in. He was somewhat pissed with himself that he was letting the asshole with the ponytail treat him like gum on the bottom of his shoe.

In all fairness, Jasper hadn't deserved any of it and the thought of just going home and letting them bother with the kittens crossed his mind. However, the greatest weakness in his personality it seemed was to follow through no matter how aggravating the situation. Sometimes he would rather not be so loyal—especially when it came to strangers. He blamed his fraternal twin sister, Jennifer, for taking all the good personality traits while they were in the womb.

He only set the microwave for 15 seconds, afraid the plastic would melt. When it finished, he opened the black, somewhat disgusting door of the microwave and quickly threw it in the plastic bag as he moved to place another in its place; yawning as he punched in the numbers.

Abruptly, Jasper heard the bell on the door ring, but he didn't turn around to see who had come into the store.

"Great _you_ ," the cashier groaned.

"Nice to see you too! Did you watch the movie yet, Pops?" a light-hearted, and very familiar voice questioned. Jasper turned around when he heard it—God, it sounded familiar—even though he was confident he didn't know the person.

"You know I hate that goddamn cheesy shit," griped the older man, snapping the page over as he continued reading.

"You know you love 'em, Fred!" rang out the voice, unaffected by the barb.

"Bah!"

Jasper heard the microwave chime behind him and despite being interested, he turned his back to collect the water bottle and place the last one in. He heard footsteps behind him and Jasper craned his neck to get a look at who was behind him.

His mouth dropped open.

Behind him, with a confused crooked grin, was the man who stared in the movies Jasper and Jennifer grew up on.

Johnny Cage was standing behind him… and he was entirely sure he looked like an idiot gawking at him.

"I know—it's a big burrito," Cage said as he held up the plastic-wrapped burrito. "But my pumpkin wants a burrito she will get a burrito —and pushed out my car if she throws it up."

Jasper didn't even hear what he said and instead gulped; a lifeless panic taking hold of him. Despite living near L.A, he never met any actor or actress face to face. His speculation that he would _act cool_ if the situation ever came along was clearly inaccurate. On the surface, he was a dumbstruck idiot with an equally stupid look on his face. On the inside, he wasn't sure if he was a 12-year-old girl at boy-band concert or a blonde bimbo being chased by Jason Voorhees, regardless which one it was, he was internally screaming.

_Oh-my-god. Johnny Cage. Johnny flippin' Cage. I love your movies. Not really they are kinda stupid— But still! SNAP OUT OF IT YOU MORON!_

The microwave beeped loudly behind him, but he only heard it because he saw Cage's hand waving in front of his face while he whistled. Jasper blinked rapidly, jolting out of his thoughts and felt a gigantic boulder of embarrassment crush him. It was remarkable he was still standing.

"You have a nice Vietnam War flashback?" Johnny asked, his smirk only growing bigger.

Jasper heard his own garbled words that formed into nothing but random sounds. He swore if a Sasquatch had a mating call, he just impersonated it correctly.

"Breath, Violet you're turning violet," Cage said, an eyebrow raised slightly in concern. "Remember the war is over now. You can open that quilt shop you always talked about."

Jasper felt the rush of air explode out of his lungs; he hadn't even known he was holding his breath. "Sorry… umm… do you need to use the microwave?"

He could tell that Cage was trying to be patient with him, albeit looking at him as if he was Norman Bates, and gave a charming smile. "That's why I'm behind ya."

The pet store clerk was quite aware of how much of an idiot he felt. "Sorry. I'm hogging it. I didn't mean to. I just… you're freaking Johnny Cage man! Holy shit!"

Even over the sound of Johnny's laugh, he could hear the cashier groan with disgust and exasperation: "Oh good God."

"That's me mi amigo. Always nice to meet a fan," he beamed.

Jasper could feel his fingers rubbing together nervously, noticing how heavily coated in sweat they were. "Sorry. I'm sure I scaring the crap outta you right now, but I promise I'm not Kathy Bates."

"You're fine, kid, it's a compliment and thank you for not breaking my ankles with a sledgehammer - yet," Johnny said. "Can I use the microwave, now?"

"Oh yeah! Sorry!" he said in alarm. His hands slipped over the handle as he grabbed the last water bottle and shoved it in the plastic bag.

"Uhh… none of my concern but water tastes better cold," Cage remarked.

_Oh_ _my god, he must think I'm so weird right now. Don't say anything stupid..._

"Oh I know, I love cold water! These aren't for me I'm just doing some asshole with a pony-tail a favor. You see he has these kittens and his two friends and the cats they need formula. I just wanted to go home and see my dog, and I also need to stop talking because…"

He thought he felt his heart stop dead when Cage placed his hand over his mouth. He went as still as a statue as Johnny 'shushed' him.

_Nice_ _job, Jasp. You're Kathy Bates, now._

"Sorry. I ramble when I'm nervous," Jasper apologized. His words muffled under Johnny Cage's hand. His cheeks burned hot like a fire in a boiler.

"I noticed," Cage said. "If I buy you a burrito, will you relax?"

The film star removed his hand; Jasper shrugged sheepishly. "I don't like gas station burritos, but I promise to shut up forever now that I have finished digging my own grave."

Cage shrugged. "Hey, you don't have to shut up. Just stop holding the microwave hostage, will ya?"

Jasper side-stepped out of the way and allowed the actor room to cook the cheap gas station junk food. The pet store clerk's eyes glanced over at the cashier who was rolling his eyes at him before flicking the page.

"So which one of my movies do you like the most? Let me guess _Citizen Cage_?" he suddenly waved his hand with dismissal, snapping his fingers in thought. "No don't tell me! _Massive Strike_? Everyone likes that one. _Ninja Mime,_ right?"

"Dude, its _Fisticuffs_ for sure! Loved the fight scenes in that one!" Jasper answered. His response seemed to catch him off guard because his eyebrows rose at the answer. Johnny raised his knuckles at him.

"A personal favorite of yours truly as well. Creepy fangirling aside, you're alright," Cage said. Jasper balled his fist and tapped his knuckles against Johnny Cage's. Jasper once again felt his cheeks flush with a dark red with embarrassment. _He just fist-bumped Johnny Cage!_

"Sorry about the fangirling. My sister and I have watched your movies since we were kids," Jasper explained shyly. "I can't wait to see her freak when I tell her about this."

"Well _that_ doesn't make me feel old at all," Johnny sarcastically chuckled. Jasper laughed as well, although it sounded creepy and forced in his ears.

He crossed his arms as they waited for the microwave to finish. Jasper noticed the curious gleam in his eyes. "So tell me about the asshole with the pony-tail and the kittens. Sounds like a riveting family-friendly drama."

Jasper frowned. The image of the asshole in question caused him to sigh. "It's a long story."

"Well give me the cliff notes, professor," Cage smirked.

Jasper sighed. "So, I was closing up the pet store I work at, and some guy with a box full of kittens comes waltzing up asking me to open the shop. Well, can't say no to kittens. Anyways, I decide to take the high road and give him a lift as well. He lives on the Special Forces Base just up the road."

An inquisitive twinkle sparkled in the actor's blue eyes the second he mentioned the base, but Jasper didn't think too much of it and continued: "Well, his friends show up too, like some bad Twilight Zone episode. Well, there is a no pet rule in the base, so they all come up with this plan to sneak them in the base. We have to make the kittens fall asleep. That's why I'm microwaving water. They need lukewarm water for the formula. Crazy right?"

"Crazy Cat Lady level," Johnny nodded. He paused for a moment before his lip pulled into a sly smile. "For no reason whatsoever, I was wondering if the asshole with the ponytail's got a name?"

Jasper bit his lip trying to remember what Takeda had called him. Ironically, or just the universe having a sense of humor, he recalled it right when the microwave beeped. "Uhh…Jin or something like that."

Cage rose a single eyebrow; Jasper could tell that he recognized the name. " _Kung_ Jin?"

The pet store employee nodded. "Yeah. Kung Jin. That's it. You know him?"

When he saw the strange, almost crafty look on the actor's face, Jasper gulped slightly with anxiousness. Perhaps he should have kept his big mouth shut.

"Tell you what," Cage began, a devious look on his face. "You point out where they are hanging out and we'll get back at him for treating you like an asshole."

Jasper shook his head. "No… I can't do that. I mean he's been rude and everything, but I still want the kittens to get taken care of so _I_ don't have to."

Johnny waved a hand, like a magician trying to vanish all his concerns. "Don't worry about the fluffballs, I won't spill."

Jasper rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't know…"

"I'll give you an autograph," Johnny promised with a wink.

Without missing a beat, Jasper nodded with a serious expression and blurted out without thinking. "You got it."

_I'm such a whore._

* * *

" _Has the one called Jasper abandoned his mission, Kung Jin?"_

" _I'm ignoring you."_ Jin mentally told the white kitten in his lap, the words playing in a sing-song voice. He rolled his eyes when he came to the realization he was unintentionally just mocking himself.

"He's been gone a long time," Takeda pointed out. The calico kitten now sitting on the Shirai Ryu shoulder like a pirate's parrot—planted there purposely by Takahashi. "Didn't he say five minutes?"

"Well he does have to heat up the water bottles," Jacqui pointed out. The gray kitten purred silently in her lap, her hands cradling its body to keep it still as she sat Indian style on the grass. "Probably getting chewed out by Pops for exploding water in the microwave."

Takeda smiled lightly at Briggs' joke while Jin frowned in response. "How hard is it to heat up a couple of water bottles for cat milk?"

Jacqui furrowed her eyebrows into a hard line, but Takeda did the talking for her. "You know, he didn't have to be nice to you and go out of his way. Why are you such a jerk?"

"It's been a long night if you haven't noticed," Kung Jin huffed. A white paw suddenly planted itself on the Shaolin's lips. Jin could feel the tiny needles of his claws prick the soft flesh of his lips, and he curled his nose when he smelled the dumpster on his foot.

_"You speak foully of our friend. I will hear no more of this. He is benevolent and does not deserve any animosity. I silence you."_

"Get your nasty smelling feet off my mouth," the archer growled. He plucked the kitten's foot from his mouth and lifted him off his lap. The white kitten meowed, almost in sadness and walked along the grass of the park. Abandoned by his caretaker.

"D'aw come on, Jin," Takeda teased with a disappointed tune. "You don't have to be mean to _everyone_ that likes you."

"He's a pest," Kung Jin retorted, leaning back on his arms. Despite his antagonism towards the white kitten, he kept a watchful eye as he tumbled on the grass and explored.

"I think you are just defensive because you don't want to admit you like little RJ," Takeda snickered. A smirk pulled to one side as if the question was rhetorical.

Jin lifted a hand to drag it down his face in irritation. "You just had to pick Raiden Junior, didn't you?"

Takeda shrugged, "Well, come on. Who _else_ does the little guy remind you off?"

"Johnny Cage," Jacqui said. Jin couldn't help but notice the tight, almost alarmed tone in her voice.

"Really? That's what a fluffy white cat reminds you of? Mr. Cage?" Takeda questioned with a raised eyebrow. Evidently he missed the nervousness in her voice, too focused on the color mashed kitten that was sniffing the inside of his ear. Takeda let out a strained giggle when it gave a cracked squeak in his ear.

Kung Jin's eyes widened, complete embarrassment rushing over him when he saw the familiar headlights of Johnny Cage's red Corvette following a blue Taurus pulling in the parking lot.

With the speed used in training, the Shaolin jumped to his feet and ran over to grab the white kitten that was currently nibbling on a blade of grass. The tiny ball of marble colored fluff let out a small squeak of surprise when he was suddenly lifted from the lawn.

_"Kung Jin! What is the meaning of this! I was feasting."_

Running, and knowing it was in no way subtle what he was doing, he snatched the kitten from Takeda's shoulder and the gray one from Jacqui's lap; both of them giving him a dubious look. Just as he placed all three kittens back in the box, he noticed a lop-sided smile on the actor's face as he stepped out of the car and. Jasper did the same and unlike Johnny Cage who wore a shit-eating grin, he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly; knowing he was in trouble.

In his hand, he held a white plastic bag with cylinders poking through the material; the water bottles. Cage walked over to the group as Jasper went to fetch the formula out of the passenger seat of the Taurus; trying to become invisible.

He had every reason to be nervous because it took all Kung Jin had not to run over to him and put the pet store clerk in a chokehold. He knew that Cage had seen the kittens despite his attempt to remain deadpan as he stalked over to them. He felt a sinking pang of resentment that engulfed into a hotter fire the more he glared in Jasper's direction.

Looked like their plan was over before it even started and Jin knew _exactly_ who was to blame. Kung Jin placed the jacket back over the top of the box, concealing them and gave the heaviest glower he could fix in the traitor's direction. _"If I was Quan Chi I would kill you, resurrect you and then kill you again."_

"Ya, Jin like I didn't see you just pick up a bunch of cats and shove them in the box," Johnny Cage jabbed with a light-hearted tone. "I thought Shaolin were supposed to be stealthy."

"They were flowers," Jin threw back, his tone despondent despite the layer of anger trying to conceal it.

Johnny responded with a skeptical look and laughed softly. "Yup, sure. Let me guess. Pussy willows?"

"That's not really a _flower_ ," Jacqui grumbled. Her hand covered her eyes as if trying to veil her disappointment, and/or pretend she was somewhere else. Jin sensed it was both because the feeling was mutual.

"How about catnip, then?" Cage replied. Jacqui groaned.

"How the hell did this happen?" Takeda blurted out, his eyes shifting over towards Jasper, who was walking towards them.

"It was a very popular gas station," Jasper sighed, his attention on fetching the water bottles out of the grocery bag along with three blue plastic bowls with a straw attached; a cereal bowl and the straw was supposed to suck up the milk. Kung Jin looked over in the car. In the passenger seat, he saw Cassie with her mouth gaped open and her head lolled back against the headrest. Either asleep or just miserable, Jin guessed the latter from what he saw her consume earlier that night. He would have laughed if he wasn't so pissed off.

"Yeah, I can see that, but… _how_?" Takeda asked, looking as if someone was keeping the puzzle pieces he needed to complete the board away from him.

"Well, I guess you can say _curiosity killed the cat_ ," Johnny smiled. It earned a collective set of groaning from the three. "See, fanboy over here was nuking water bottles and because I'm not Sherlock Holmes, I had to ask what he was doing. Well, he recognized who I was and let's just say we bonded over my movies. As soon as he said a _jerk with a ponytail_. I knew it was you, Jin ole' boy."

"So you ratted us out?" Kung Jin spat in Jasper's direction.

Jasper shrugged innocently but didn't blink under the hateful stare from Kung Jin. "I'm a fan. So sue me."

"I'll knock your head off instead!" Kung Jin seethed, raising from his spot on the grass. The Shaolin was already storming towards Jasper when Cage stepped in the middle between the two, placing a hand on Jin's chest to stop him.

"Whoa, easy there," Cage stopped with a humorous but serious tone. "I ain't here to tattle-tale on you to my ex-wife. I just wanna help with the little fluffballs."

Kung Jin gave him a suspicious glare. "Why?"

Johnny's smile broadened into a mischievous grin. "Because A: underneath this handsome exterior is a man who has a soft spot for cute and fluffy. And B: Sonya is allergic to cats."

"We were not planning on telling the General, Mr. Cage," Jacqui pointed out.

"Oh, I figured out that, _Brigg-a-dear_ ," Johnny said. "But can you imagine Sonya sneezing all over the place and not knowing why? Call it Johnny Cage's _subtle revenge for giving me a hard time lately_. Weapon of choice: strategically placed cat hair—invisible to the naked eye."

Kung Jin couldn't help but roll his eyes as both Takeda and Jasper laughed softly.

"Hate to admit it, that would be funny to see," Takeda chuckled. Jacqui flashed a stony expression and punched his bicep.

"What was that for?" Takeda whined, rubbing his arm.

"Because that's Aunt Sonya you're talking about and I'm tired and because I felt like punching something," Jacqui replied flatly.

"I'm in an abusive relationship," Takeda mocked with sadness, although there was a smile on his face.

_Thank you, Jacqui._ Jin mused to himself.

Johnny suddenly clapped his hands together, rubbing them with joyous impatience. "Now! Where are the little fluff balls?"

"Daaaaaddd," groaned an intoxicated voice from the car window. Jin, Jacqui, Takeda, and Jasper turned to see Cassie Cage, miserable as a toucan in Antarctica, rolling her head out the window with heavy lidded eyes.

Without even looking behind him, he called out to Cassie. "Not inside the car, pumpkin."

What followed was retching and the contents of her stomach hit the concrete outside of the Corvette like a bucket of water crashed down. The sound of vomiting and it slapping noisily in the night, caused everyone to cringe but Cage.

"Thank you," he called out, already approaching the box.

"She ok?" Jacqui asked. Concern was in her voice, but there was an amused eyebrow raised in Cassie's direction.

"Oh yea, she'll live. I told her the burrito wouldn't agree wit her but she wanted it. I already got her hangover junk food for tomorrow," Johnny dismissed with a wave of his hand.

"That's why you went to the gas station?" Takeda grinned.

"Ding! Winner- winner- chicken- dinner," Cage joked. "Can I see the fuzzy ones now?"

"You gotta ask Jin," Takeda informed, jerking his head towards the Shaolin.

Johnny looked over at Kung Jin, and like a child begging his mother for candy, he enclosed his fingers and placed them under a very forced pouting face. "Jin," the nearly 50-year-old adult began, his voice meek and afraid. "Can I please play with your kittens? I promise I'll pet them gently."

Kung Jin let out the most aggravated sigh that was within him, audible to all and still not enough to express how irked he was. "Ya. might as well since the cat is out of the bag."

"Nice pun, you are learning well grasshopper," Cage chuckled, dropping the immature and childish act immediately after earning Jin's approval. Kung Jin groaned.

Jasper already moved away and began to pull out the bowls and mix the formula with the warm water. Stirring it with his finger and concentrating on his task, Jin walked over to him as he wiped the liquid on the grass. Jasper's brown eyes meet Jin's from his kneeling position on the ground. _He was nervous. Good._

"Sorry if I got on your nerves," Jasper started, interrupting the string of seething words that Jin had in mind to spit at him. "It just happened. Besides, now you don't need me anymore. He'll help you get them into the base, and I can go home. We don't have to look at each other for the rest of the night after this."

Jin scoffed. "At least something good came out of this."

"You know, you don't have to be a dick all the time," Jasper suggested, "but I guess it's hard for you when you look like a massive one already."

The Shaolin felt his fists tighten into balls. Leaning forward, he whispered so nobody else could hear: "If your D-List hard-on weren't here right now, I'd beat the crap out of you for that. Hope it was worth it."

Jasper met his furious glare with a confident and smug one of his own as he fished for something out of his pocket. Kung Jin felt hot air blow out of his nose when he unfolded the autographed photograph of Johnny Cage. Behind the two of them, Jin heard: "I'd frame that."

"Tell you the truth, I would have done it for a Klondike Bar, but this is better," Jasper sneered happily.

"Would it be better if I crumbled it up and rammed it down your throat?" Kung Jin snapped.

"Whatever," Jasper answered with a guiltless tone. "Anyway, I'm outta here. You're _welcome_ for the help. The formula is ready, and I'll leave the cat stuff on the curb for you. Good luck with your children."

Jin folded his arms across his chest as Jasper ignored him, instead opted for calling out the others to say his goodbye's. Takeda and Jacqui returned it with a wave of their own. Kung Jin grumbled when he saw Cage holding the black kitten by the paw and forcing it to mock good-bye wave at him as well. "Good-bye! I will never forget you."

"Was that _Titanic_?" Jasper questioned, a frown on his face but his eyes bright with silent laughter.

Johnny Cage continued to wave the black kitten's paw and responded with the most horrendous Italian accent. "I can see the Statue of Liberty, already! Very small of course! Mamma Mia!"

"Thank you for the autograph, Mr. Cage!" Jasper said with a roll of his eyes.

"You did not just call me _Mister Cage_ ," Jin heard Johnny mutter under his breath. Kung Jin watched as he left, keeping to his word and leaving the supplies on the curb for him to collect.

He started the car and gave a yawn. The Shaolin turned his back and returned his attention to the box of trouble that had to of been bestowed on him as a joke by the Elder Gods. It seemed along with the kittens, they had also sent the reject film actor and his daughter as a test of how far his patience could truly stretch. Picking up the bowls, he walked back to the group, albeit unmotivated to rejoin them. Johnny lifted the black kitten he was holding and brought him to face level. "Awe... look at that cute wittle face. Whose a cute little fluff ball?"

The black cat glanced over at Kung Jin and he could swear he saw the desperation to escape in the large emerald eyes. _"Kung Jin. I require your assistance."_

Various voices of mewing came from the box and earned the actor's attention. "Awe I'm sorry. You are adorable fluff balls as well." The orange tabby let out a squeak that failed to terrify the action star.

_"Pay attention to me!"_

"Do you want lovings too, squeaky toy?" Cage asked, placing the black cat in the box and replaced it with the orange one. He hugged him to his chest like a four-year-old girl with a doll. Immediately, the kitten's ears fell back as his face scrunched into a horrified expression like a deformed wax doll.

_"Don't pay attention to me! Put me back in the box!"_

He meowed angrily in Johnny's hold. "Fine. Be that way. I'll hug the _cuter_ one." Placing the tabby back in the box, he retrieved the black one and held him to his chest with the kitten's feet in the air; swaddling him like an infant. The black kitten didn't enjoy the arrangement and flipped over until his feet were in Johnny's hands. In a more comfortable position, the kitten meowed softly but remained in Cage's hold.

"Are you sure Cassie is not going to spill the beans the minute we get to the gate?" Kung Jin interrogated as he put the bowls down near the box. He was very doubtful since Cassie had a hard time keeping her mouth shut when she was sober.

"She doesn't even know what year it is right now," Cage answered. He turned his attention away from the black cat and turned towards Jacqui and Takeda. "She's irked that you ditched her, FYI. She wanted to do a group karaoke session."

"That's _why_ we ditched," Takeda acknowledged, rubbing his temples with two of his fingers. Looking as if he rather forget what was mentioned.

"Can we give them their stupid milk now?" Jin asked with an annoyed disposition. Johnny rolled his eyes and set the black kitten down."Alright, alright, don't get your ponytail in tangles."

The minuscule panther stepped experimentally across the grass, his interest fixed on the blue bowl. One by one, the other kittens were lifted from the cardboard box and set on the green.

"And they're off!" Cage joked, his voice imitating a horse race announcer's as he watched them all curiously walked towards the bowls. "We got _White Lightning_ in the lead, followed by _Great Balls Of Fire_. Followed by _Great Balls of Fire_ we have _The Gray Gatsby_ and it looks like _The Calico Kid_ is going to reach the finish line first!"

"By the Gods..." Kung Jin groaned.

"It _never_ stops," Jacqui agreed.

"His name is RJ," Takeda argued lightly.

Johnny flashed Kenshi's son with a fake look of shock."Takeda... you are not supposed to name _it_. Once you name it you start getting attached to _it_. Now put that thing back where it came from, or so help me!"

"You mean back in the _dumpster_?" Kung Jin interrupted. He knew that it was a stupid movie line, but the look on his face was priceless. Especially when he Johnny rolled his head back and hissed through his teeth at his mistake.

"Oohhhh. Imma _dick!_ " Cage winced to himself.

Eventually, all the kittens reached one of the three blue bowls; two at each except the black, orange and white one sharing the same bowl, leaving one empty. Greedily, they began to suck down the formula, hungry and silent besides the sound of them sipping. Kung Jin let a small smile creep onto his face. _Silence at last._

Johnny Cage stepped over to the empty, forgotten bowl and gestured at it with his hands. The kittens ignored him. "Umm, hello. Empty bowl right here. You don't have to fight over that _one_."

The black kitten, his mouth, and whiskers covered in a the white liquid like a baby with spaghetti sauce over face, ignored the actor and chewed on the plastic straw; conveying all the kitten's answer to Cage's claim. They didn't care. They wanted this bowl.

Reaching over, he plucked the orange one from the bowl he was still drinking out of. The actor cringed slightly when a ferocious roar of complaint issued from the amber baby.

_"Unhand me asshole!"_

Johnny flipped the kitten around to face him. "Are you giving me sass or are you telling me how much you love my movies?"

With formula dripping from the wet fibers of his fur, he let out another irritated squeak at Cage as he wiggled with rage. _"Your movies stink worse than two pieces of shit rolling around on a hill made of shit!"_

"Awe, I think he likes me," Cage cooed. The defiant meow said differently. He placed the orange kitten in front of the unused bowl and, in retaliation, the tiger marched back to the bowl where the black and white kitten were. Johnny tried to pull him back to the lonely bowl, but as soon as he was released he tried to go back to the crowded bowl he preferred. He gave it three attempts before he gave up.

Stumbling away, both the calico and the gray kitten walked through the grass, mewing softly. The pair glanced at each other, both of them regarding each other like two gunfighters in a duel before the painted kitten launched and attacked the gray one. Laughter came from the humans, even from the sour Shaolin, as they rolled on the grass; biting and kicking.

A bigger laugh came from the Shirai Ryu, drowning out the others as they turned to look at him. He noticed and tried to settle his fit before he nodded his head over towards the two kittens. "You know what this reminds me of? I don't know why, but all I see is Master Hasashi and Grandmaster Sub-Zero fighting."

Kung Jin smirked at Takeda's remark. Now that he had said that, it was all he could see as they continued to brawl on the grass.

_"Shirai Ryu dog!"_

_"Lin Kuei scum!"_

"I got it," Jacqui piqued suddenly. The Archer could swear he saw the light bulb that brightened over her head.

"Got what?" the Ninja Mime star asked.

"What to name them all," Jacqui explained, a smile on her face as she grabbed the black kitten that finished and scampered near her. She settled it on her lap as the mini-jaguar batted at her fingers playfully. She let out a small _'ow'_ when his teeth clamped on her index finger.

" _I will nibble your fingers to the bone! I am a ravenous panther of the Amazon!"_

"Since you already named the white one Raiden Jr. and you brought up Hanzo and Kuai Liang, how about we name those two after them?" she offered.

Johnny laughed as soon as he heard what the actual meaning to RJ was. "You named him after Sparky? Hahaha! Ok, I can see it. Then we have to name the other two after Coldy-locks and Anger Management!"

"Well since the calico is a girl, how about we name her Hana? After Hanzo?" Takeda suggested with a shrug. Kung Jin thought he was going to roll his eyeballs out of his head. To almost accentuate how he felt, he heard Cassie throw up behind him.

_Finally,_ _we agree on something, Cassie._

Johnny managed to separate the two kittens and held them in each large hand, both of them still batting at each other from across the distance created; managing only to swat at air.

"So if you're a girl," Johnny mused to the calico. He raised the gray kitten over his head and looked between it's legs. "You must _also_ be a girl."

"Lia," Jacqui smiled. Takeda and Johnny seemed to give nods of approval at the name, and despite how ridiculous it was to name cats that were not going to be around very long, Jin allowed himself to approve of the names. At least, he would have something to call them when he got angry at them. He felt something tap his shoes and he looked down to see RJ glancing up and him with a cocked head; his blue eyes gazed up at him with adorable inquisitiveness.

"What about _Jaguar_?" Kung Jin said, his head jerking at the kitten on her lap before he seethed with pain when the mini furry version of the Thunder God decided to use his jeans to climb up him.

_"I will ascend, Kung Jin."_

With his tiny arms wrapped around his pant legs like a monkey shimming up a coconut tree. His claws dug into his thigh before he intervened and pried RJ from his clothing. He clung to his pants for a moment, before another tug released him. He held him in the crook of his arm and immediately Jin could feel the vibrations coming from his chest. He purred in contentment and felt his head nudge against his bicep before he laid flat against the flat surface of Kung Jin's forearm; his eyes starting to grow foggy with sleepiness.

"Montezuma?" Cage offered. Another burst of vomit rang through the night and hit the pavement. Johnny looked over at Cassie who had her head hanging outside the window like a dog on ipecac. "Help me..." she moaned.

"Hang in there, cliffhanger," her father called. Cassie banged her head on the window's edge a couple of times before she left it there.

"How about _Ko_ if we are sticking the Aztec theme?" Takeda shrugged.

"As in _Kotal_ Kahn?" Jin scoffed. "Hell no. Pick something else."

"Well, how about Jack?" Jacqui said. "He _is_ a boy."

"Naming him after your old man?" Johnny asked his goddaughter.

"He's a strong little guy, so yeah," she explained. The kitten pulled her fingers towards his mouth, the kitten's mouth wide open as the tomboy struggled to keep her digits away from the trap of tiny teeth.

_"Give me your fingers! I must eat them! How dare you disrespect me!"_

Besides the black kitten that held on to her, Kung Jin noticed that the Sub-Zero and Scorpion kittens were beginning to slow. Sluggishly, they continued their fight but the comfort of the grass seemed to lull them. Perhaps it had something to do with the warm glass of milk they received as well.

The former thief looked down at his arms and melted at the sight he saw, even though he kept his hardened poker face. RJ, resting in his arms, was fast asleep. His eyes were closed and buried his face into Jin's chest. His skinny frame moved slightly up and down. He looked at peace now that he finally had nourishment. _Well. One down, four to go._

* * *

It was 1 am, but Jin guessed that it was closer to 2 in the morning since Takeda hadn't checked his watch for a while. Kung Jin managed to sit on the grass. RJ still curled against him and hadn't stirred even after he moved.

After Jacqui and Takeda had explained to Johnny their plan of action, Johnny also offering to use his gym bag in the trunk of the car to get the cat gear in, Kung Jin noticed Lia and Hana had also fallen asleep. Hana curled into a ball as the gray kitten rested her head on top of the calico's warm fur, both of them sucking heat from each other.

The only ones that still fought were the tabby and the black kitten. The former walked over towards Jack, who was beginning to calm in Jacqui's lap and whacked the male kitten hard on the head. Jack responded instantly, leaping from the Specialist and tackling the jerk; hugging him from behind. They rolled like a colorful tumbleweed across the grass, earning a small bit of laughter from all the tired residents of the Special Forces base. The chuckling was meek at best.

They were all exhausted and he was getting tired of waiting on the last two to succumb to slumber like the others. Cassie had passed out in the car and Jin could swear he saw a white trail of drool trailing down her chin in the passenger seat.

Even through his groggy daze, an idea popped in his head when he watched the black and orange kitten fight on the grass.

"TJ."

They all looked at him for an explanation. "TJ. Or _Tiny Jerk_. That's what I'm going to call him. He acts like one might as well be named it."

"See. Told you like them. You named one," Takeda teased. The Shirai Ryu was laying with his back on the grass and his arm draped over his eyes. Therefore, he didn't see the finger that Shaolin flipped at him.

"Right back at you," Takeda mumbled indifferently. Kung Jin silently mocked the telepath's words, mouthing them silently like a kid talking back to his mother.

"Look, guys, as much as this Kumbaya is, I think we should break out the Mission Impossible music and start trying to get them in," Johnny told them, pinching the bridge of his nose as his eyes glazed over with tiredness.

"I agree with Mr. Cage," Jacqui said, resting her chin in her hand. She nudged her boyfriend with her shoe, stirring him. "You can at least try and get the three quiet ones in. We'll worry about the other two."

Kung Jin nodded in agreement. He was sick of this park. Looking over at Hanzo's protégé who was propping himself up on his elbows, he nodded in his direction: "Whose taking the extra baggage? You or me?"

Takeda glanced down at the female cats curled into a ball on top of each other. "There's no separating those two. I can take them. You can take little RJ."

"Takeda. It's a cat," Kung Jin advised with a cautionary tone. "As soon as they are better, they're off to new homes."

"Whatever you say, Jin," was all the Takeda replied with; his tone skeptical. Jin ignored him and very gently placed RJ on the grass who only stirred slightly as he settled. Jin stood, along with Takeda, as both of them began to tuck their shirts into their jeans. Jacqui and Johnny very gently, lifted the kittens from the grass, as if they were the most delicate flower ever to grace the earth, and gently tucked them inside their shirts.

Takeda cupped his chest as did Jin, both of them looking as if they had tumors growing on their chests. Jin could feel RJ move, trying to get comfortable inside his new sleeping quarters at the same time Kung Jin tried to ignore how ticklish the cat's fur against his skin was. his mouth twisted, trying it's best to remain in a flat line but it was harder then he thought it would be.

Takeda's cats, named after both Clan Grandmaster's, settled across his chest and poked through the material right where his pectoral muscles were.

"Nice breast implants, who's your doctor?" Kung Jin jabbed light-heartily.

Takeda scowled in his direction. "Same doctor who's going to deliver your baby. You 5 month along now?"

Jacqui laughed. "Alright, you guys better get going before the next rotation starts." She checked her watch. "Looks like you got 34 minutes. I'd hurry."

Johnny already had the black kitten in his hand who threw a tantrum; wiggling in his palm as his feet swiped for solid ground. He let out a terrible mew in disdain.

_I want to kill him now!_

"Yes, ma'am," Takeda replied. "We'll meet you soon."

Jacqui scooped up the orange one; the blue eyes blinking with sleepiness the moment she cradled him in the crook of her arm. With a wink, she added. "Good luck guys. I'll keep the window open for you."

* * *

Takeda waited on the ground, on the outside of the Special Forces chain link fence as Kung Jin, climbed up it carefully. He did so slowly, doing his best to avoid rousing the kitten that was building between the juncture of where his shirt was tucked into his jeans. He looked like a Shaolin kangaroo. He felt small nails scrape against his skin as the two kittens he was holding moved. They were more restless and it was becoming a problem trying to control them through the fabric.

The branch of the large oak hung over on their side and the Shirai Ryu knew the single outstretched branch hanging was what Jin was aiming for. Before he reached the barbed wire, he pulled his legs, propping them against the fence as it caved in slightly from the pressure he put on it. Using it as a springboard, he jumped from the wall and grabbed the branch.

Both Takeda and Jin let out sighs of relief, but that was replaced with panic when the sudden motion caused Jin's shirt to become unloose and a white kitten fell out of his shirt like an egg out of an Easter basket.

Takeda was already attempting to run and catch RJ, but was startled when Jin instantly let go of the branch, managed to grab RJ by the scruff and pulled him to his chest. Takeda cringed when Jin rotated and landed on his back, falling at least 30 feet from the tree. He groaned, his face coiled in pain, but opened his eyes and let out a sigh of relief when he saw that the kitten was awake, but safe.

The white cat meowed softly and walked across Jin's chest before kneading his collarbone, as if with thanks and repaying him by tending to his injuries.

Much to his surprise, Jin stroked the kitten's back, as if relieved that he was unaffected by the fall. "We need another plan."

He agreed. There was no way to leap from the tree without hurting the cats. He eyeballed the chain link and the holes. With an unsure grimace, he walked over to the fence and pulled out one of the kittens. Kneeling down with Hana in his hands, the kitten waking up slowly, he tried to urge the kitten to see if he could fit through the fence. It was big enough and the kitten had no problem fitting through. Stumbling sluggishly on the grass, he did the same thing with Lia. They meowed from the other side of the fence and began to explore the other side. Takeda took his chance before they decided to try and go through the hole of the fence.

As soon as both cats were through, Takeda climbed the fence and copied what Jin did in a hurried pace. As soon as he had his feet on the tree branch, he walked it like a tightrope towards the base and began to descend down; jumping from limb to limb with agility.

He felt the tree shake and noticed the Jin had followed the same idea and was walking on the tree branch towards the base. Takeda was the first to touch the ground, looking carefully in the dark for any movement, before he dropped down onto the grass.

Lia and Hana walked along the overgrown grass, taking giant footsteps as if the two were wearing snow shoes. Double-checking his shirt was tucked in, he bent down and put them inside of his shirt. He could feel them clambering around and groaned when he felt claws digging into his flesh; trying to climb up him.

He glanced over at Jin and noticed the he did the same with RJ.

"Well, step one down," Takeda remarked with a hopeful grin. "Now comes the tricky part."

Both of the teammates looked across the open field, across the large grassy field was the outline of the building that made up their adjoined quarters. Silently, the began to make their way across the field, the crickets louder and thankfully drowning out their footsteps as the crossed with haste towards the building. The amber glow of the streetlights that dotted the area helped them breathe a little easier; they didn't see anybody around.

Their backs hit the wall of the beige building. With Takeda leading, they scurried along the wall and stopped when he reached the edge. He peered around it to see no one in sight, but a security camera hanging from a post. It swiveled slowly back and forth between the area and as soon as it pointed in their direction, he pulled his face from the corner.

He turned to Jin, "On my go," he instructed him.

Takeda waited, barely peeking from behind the corner. As soon as the camera pointed in the opposite direction, he nodded at Jin to follow. Briskly, the raced across the open area until they reached the protection of another building.

He noticed the next building over and smirked slightly when he saw the light shining through a single window. That was Jacqui's room, and honestly, he could have found it in the dark because he snuck into it a couple of times just to annoy her. He stopped scaring her when she broke his nose when he pulled back the shower curtain like Anthony Perkins in Psycho; he didn't hear violins but saw stars. His felt his nose twinge with pain at the memory; she definitely was Jax's daughter.

They reached Jacqui's window and very carefully, he pushed the window upwards.

The window was snatched from him and pulled all the way up in a violent thrust. At first, Takeda thought he was in trouble but then saw Jacqui's face poke through.

She offered him a hand and pulled him up. As soon as he was inside her room, he pulled his shirt up and gently let the kittens fall on Jacqui's bed; accompanying Jack and TJ. As always, her room was meticulous and clean; overly organized from the absence of wrinkles on her gray blanket to the way her pens rested in the cup on her equally clean desk. Like all of their rooms, it was painted white with an adjoining bathroom the same color.

The only thing that broke the robotic appeal of the room was the pictures of her family and friends on her metal nightstand.

Takeda heard the window close behind him and Jin lift RJ out of his shirt and placed him on the bed next to the other kittens. "Where's Cage?"

"On his way, he had to park the car and get Cass to bed," Jacqui answered.

"Did you have trouble getting them in?" Takeda asked.

She shook her head, "Besides a little bit of protest from the orange one after we passed the gate, it was a breeze. Mission accomplished."

"Go figure," Kung Jin grumbled, looking at the deviant orange fluff looking at him. He squeaked at him and Takeda smiled. They really should have reconsidered and named the kitten KJ.

"Ah shut up already you little punk," Kung Jin tossed sharply at the kitten.

There was a knock at the door, rhythmically tapping against the door in the style of 'Shave and A Haircut.' He didn't need his family gift to know it was Johnny Cage on the other side of the door. He was surprised that they had managed to wrangle in another accomplice, but like Jacqui and even Kung Jin who wouldn't admit it, how could you say no to those 5 adorable faces.

"It's open," Jacqui called out.

The actor stepped through the door, opening and closing it quickly with a heavy frown on his face directed at Jin. "Unlike your room. Really wish you had it unlocked, Jin." He still had the gym bag, stuffed with Jin's kitten necessities and looking like the zipper on the bag was ready to bust.

"Like you keep your room unlocked," Kung Jin threw back with a pretentious scoff.

Takeda could feel uneasiness in Cage and he prodded through to figure out what was troubling him. When he realized what it was and who was standing on the other side of the door, Takeda felt his face turn ghostly white.

_Oh no..._

_"Yes, son."_ he heared his father's voice in his head. The door opened and revealed the elder Takahashi in his training clothes. As soon as Jacqui and Jin saw Kenshi, a nuclear bomb could have exploded right next to them and they wouldn't have heard it.

Kenshi closed the door behind him and crossed his arms over his chest. His father was not fully dressed in his combat gear, wearing only his red blindfold and a black Keikogi although he had Sento strapped to his back. His father seldom had a peaceful night sleep which prompted him to late night training at times. Takeda really wished his father had a good night sleep on this particular night.

A smirk danced across his father's face before he telepathically scolded him. _"You would have succeeded if you had chosen a different co-conspirator than one that cannot stop talking even when his mouth is closed."_

Takeda dipped his head, feeling like a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar. He must have passed Cage in the hall and caught what he was doing, even if Cage hadn't actually said anything.

"You see," Johnny Cage grumbled, even caught, he was still joking. "This is why we can't have telepaths in the base."

* * *


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5  
Turning A Blind Eye  
**

* * *

Takahashi Kenshi knew that Johnny Cage's appointed team would have eventually confided in each other with a bond of rebellious secrecy. It was only a matter of time with Kung Jin and the Cage pair a part of their rule-breaking gang. With that in mind, it was hard to be shocked or even the slightest bit surprised. However, the swordsman would have never have thought that the object, or rather _objects_ , they would try to hide from Blade's watchful eye would be 5 kittens. Another thing he had assumed wrong was that about he would personally find himself dragged into their conspiracy.

It was bad enough that Takeda was infatuated with them, but even with his son as a cohort, it was still none of his business. It didn't necessarily interfere with Kenshi's duties, and therefore, there shouldn't be a reason for him to be standing in Jacqueline Briggs' room at all. Still, he knew Sonya would be sour if he willingly withheld information, meaningless information about contraband but information nonetheless. The elder Takahashi suddenly realized them perhaps it would have been in his best interest is he had continued to his room. Damn, Cage's loud thinking.

Now that he was here, he was left conflicted about his next course of action.

Regardless of the stoic, unreachable façade they tried to tear down with their sob-story, Kenshi had already gotten the shortened version from Johnny Cage's inescapable and loud thoughts. Kung Jin had found them, and because he was their rescuer, felt obligated to take care of them until he could figure out what to do with them. The only problematic element that oldest Takahashi was having difficulty overlooking, was the longer they stayed in the base, the harder it would be to let them go. That raised doubts about if this would be the last time he saw the cats in the base or not. It left him with a hard time believing them when they promised they would get rid of them.

In fact, the strongest arguments about why they should stay came from what the group was _not_ telling him. It would have been fine, but the swordsman could sense the quick attachment they had all formed with the cats— even Kung Jin, who protested that he didn't have one. Unfortunately, this only caused him to oppose the idea even more about letting them stay.

Kenshi didn't need a soothsayer, nor read their minds, to know that they were already going to try and keep them. Even though he wasn't technically a member of the SF, he knew what he needed to do as soon as he left the room. Takeda would not approve of it, nor any of the others, but it was the rules of the base.

The blind swordsman's red bandana tilted down to his shoe when he felt a small set of claws try and rip apart the material of his black tabi boots.

Still, he wasn't _completely_ heartless. Unbeknownst to them, even to his son that was trying to prod into his own mind, he repressed a smirk at the small creature.

He knew it was the calico, named Hana and inspired by Hanzo (Takeda's doing no doubt), just from Briggs watching the kitten while the others rattled on to him; not aware it was all falling on deaf ears at the moment. Kenshi could sense her reluctance about what he would say. They had worked hard to sneak them in and the sympathy they felt for their new small, fuzzy animal children, was evident even if he couldn't see the expressions on their faces.

They needed the care; that was plain to see— _so to speak_ —and they were their closest allies.

For a moment, the ghost of an amused smirk tugged its way onto his face when the black and yellow kitten's teeth clamped down on one of the toes of his boot and kicked with ferocity. Her kicks were brutal, filled with playful malicious intent, but felt like a feather.

" _Care to provide a solution?"_ Kenshi proposed to Sento, relaying it silently with his thoughts.

His ancestors in Sento offered no words of encouragement about letting the swordsman turn a blind eye, in fact, the only ones that spoke up about it agreed that he should inform the General. However, the stern voices against having the animals in the base knew they were being ignored, and as a result, the objections didn't come off as nearly as persuasive.

" _Why question us if you have already have arrived at your answer?"_ an older, feminine voice scolded playfully. The swordsman did grin in amusement from his ancestor's answer.

" _I promise it won't be forever."_ his son's voice assured, although there was doubt transferred in the telepathic exchange.

" _It goes against the General Blades' orders if they remain here."_ Kenshi lightly criticized.

" _I think Jin can't wait to get rid of them,"_ Takeda joked sheepishly. _"It's just until they are better."_

" _Or until you have been caught."_ Kenshi scolded. _"Which there will be repercussions when you are finally discovered."_

He knew that Takeda was smiling at the calico at Kenshi's feet. _"You gotta admit its worth it."_

Kenshi hissed through his teeth when the needle-like claws of the female kitten shimmed its way up his pant leg; climbing and digging into his flesh like a bear scaling a pine tree. Jacqui went to pry the kitten from him until Kenshi raised a hand to stop her, and grasped the kitten around the middle of its waist. Silence entered the room the moment he heard almost everyone hold in their breath as if the young feline had swayed his opinion by offending him in some way.

Holding the calico under its pits and raising it to eye level, the usually impassive older man failed to hold in the grin that creased across his face when he felt the soft paws of Hana land on the top of his nose and started to bat at it as if it was an elusive object she was trying to catch.

"So Ken, you gonna rat on us to my ex-wife or not?" the actor suddenly piped up, his voice low with dissapointment; as if he already knew what Kenshi's answer undoubtedly was.

As usual, Johnny Cage was wrong.

"I don't know what you refer to," was the telepath's light-hearted lie. The instance he said that he could feel the sighs of relief around the room as if it was a gentle breeze on his face. Kenshi smiled lightly as he placed his opposite hand under the calico's legs and rear, cupping her weight, as he walked towards Jacqui who took her from him with an appreciative nod.

Kung Jin crossed his arms over his chest, regarding him with a dubious frown. "Sure you don't. So your not say you saw 5 cats?"

Kenshi blinked at him and raised an eyebrow in the Shaolin's direction. "Technically, I did not see anything."

Once again, silence entered the room, heavy and arduous for the co-conspirators. For the older, blind warrior though, he found it undeniably amusing. If he knew it was this easy to render Cage and Jin speechless, he would have to look for similar opportunities of light-hearted blackmail to use in the future. Meanwhile, as most the newly appointed patriarchs of the kittens remained for the most part silent, Takeda smiled warmly in his father's direction.

_"Thank you, Dad."_

Kenshi simply nodded at his son's gleeful telepathic gratitude, masqueraded simply as a physical sigh of relief. Jacqui looked between father and son, seemingly torn between wondering what was transpiring between the two Takahashis, or peeling her attention away from them to look at Cage who looked completely flabbergasted that Kenshi would allow their deviousness to continue. It took a minute for the actor to close his gaping mouth, but when he finally relented his slack-jaw expression, replaced with a smile.

"Ken! My man!" Johnny suddenly cajoled with enthusiasm. "Bring it in here - I'm so happy I could hug ya!"

Kenshi immediately frowned and turned on his heel, pacing quickly out of the room to put distance between Cage and himself. The humored Hollywood star smirked at the hastily departing telepath, happy that he was able to get Kenshi out of the room before he changed his mind.

However, before Cage could close the door, the elder Takahashi glanced over his shoulder at his son and gave a stern smile. _"Please do not make me regret this."_

The Shirai Ryu replied with a hesitant smile before the doors of the specialist's room closed. As soon as the hallway disappeared from view, the four cat guardians let out a collective sigh of relief.

"You sure you're dad's not gonna say anything?" Jacqui asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow towards her boyfriend.

Takeda shook his head, plucking Hana from the Specialist's grasp. "I don't think so. If he was, he would have done it by now."

"Doesn't mean he won't do it later," Jin accused with a hard glower towards the door.

The young ninja rose a suspicious eyebrow toward his friend. "You seem _really_ concerned there, Jin."

The irritable bookworm gave his comrade a sharp look at his accusation. "I just don't want to think about the General coming down on us when I got five other things to worry about."

As if they had suspected the archer was speaking about them, one by one the kittens began to rouse from their sleepy demeanor and glanced around the Specialist's room with the utmost curiosity. The bumbled around Jacqui's neatly made bed, sporadically investigating their new environment as Hana did her best to wiggle from Takeda's persistent hold.

Ignoring her, Takeda pulled the kitten to his face and rubbed her fur against his skin. His eyes closed lovingly as he held the female cat against her will. Her small eyes bulged and in retaliation, she nipped at his cheek. The Shirai Ryu let out a small yelp of pain and pulled her off of his face as the kitten glowered at him with all her tiny might.

_"Release me, chugin!"_

Meanwhile, TJ and Lia approached Brigg's pillow, both of the small fuzzy siblings meandering along the soft slope. Lia sniffed at the cotton pillowcase, her whiskers tickling the fabric as she mewed softly. Her sock colored paw gingerly tested the pillow, watching as her feet sunk into the soft fabric like memory foam.

_"This lump is curious."_

TJ also stuck his nose to the fabric and gave it a long sniff. Jin figured he must have inhaled a scent of the military laundry detergent because suddenly, the orange tabby lifted its head with a humorous expression; its mouth fell open, seemingly in disgust as its eyes squinted into space as if what he inhaled was the most horrible smell known on Earth.

_"What. Was. THAT!?"_

The older Cage threw his head back in laughter as the orange fluff-ball let out an irritable mew and retreated from the pillow, bounding past Raiden Jr. and Jack before he tripped over his own feet and fell face first into the bed. TJ mewed long and angrily, looking at the comforter with disdain as if it had been the culprit.

_"I hate you! Burn in hell, comforter of doom!"_

Suddenly, his sapphire-eyed brother walked over to his distressed sibling and placed a calm, white paw upon his orange back. _"My fellow kitten, you must cease your enmity towards the comforter of doom."_

TJ looked to RJ, blinking his blue eyes as the white kitten's paw slipped from his back. TJ mewed, almost as if in acceptance, and bump-rubbed against RJ. The white kitten, in turn, licked his head and continued to groom his litter mate as the fiery-tempered kitten settled back on his hind legs and allowed him to groom him. His eyes closed, almost as if in euphoria, as RJ groomed and calmed him.

_"Oh...yea... Bathe me, bitch."_

As the humans watched their new wards with amused fascination, Jack sprang towards the edge of the bed, and before the black cat could tumble to the floor, Jin caught him in his hands. The panther glanced up at him, blinking at him with jade colored eyes before he locked on to the orange tabby getting groomed.

"Uh oh," Johnny chuckled, watching with anticipation, as Jack suddenly crouched into a hunting position as much as he could in Jin's hands, and its tiny little butt began to wiggle. The tabby seemed oblivious to its brother and continued to lean into RJ as he cleaned him.

"This is a jaguar! One of the fiercest big cats in all the Amazon! One bite and you're a goner!" Johnny mocked, plastering on a fake Steve Irwin impression. Jin rolled his eyes as he shook his head. With a leap, Jack suddenly sprung from the archer's hands towards the pair, but came short, and fell towards the laminated floor of the room instead.

"Gods!" Kung Jin exclaimed, his hands fumbling to catch Jack before he hit the cold floor. The kitten bounced through the Shaolin's hands like a haphazard hacky-sack until he saved the kitten inches from the ground. The panther gave a small mew, looking up at Jin as he balanced in his hands again. The scholarly Earthrealmer brought the kitten to eye level, reprimanding the cat with an annoyed look.

"You _trying_ to break your neck, dumbass?"

The jaguar blinked in silence at him, as if unfazed by his words. _"I am a murderous baby kitten. How dare you stop me."_

The archer playfully furrowed his eyebrows firmly at the cat, as is silently reprimanding a disobedient child, until the obsidian feline's small face leaned towards him and licked the underside of his jaw. With company present, Kung Jin did his did to suppress the laugh that threatened to escape his throat as the harsh sandpaper tongue tickled the stubble of his chin. When he felt he couldn't take it anymore, Kung Jin pulled him away and cradled Jack along the length of his forearm. The kitten continued to look up at his Shaolin keeper, and almost as if in retaliation for not allowing him to continue to groom his chin, gave the human a hard bite to the skin of his arm.

"Hey, what gives?" the indignant archer barked, moving his fingers to detach the ivory fangs from his skin.

_"I have to KILL."_

"No offense, Jin but, I'm ready to crash," Johnny suddenly yawned. "But don't worry, I'll come by and bug you in the morning. Just in case you miss me too much."

"Great," the Shaolin groaned.

"Need to get the bag to Jin's room first," Jacqui pointed out, also rubbing her eyes.

"Well, I guess we should probably get to it then," Cage suggested. "I'm gonna need my beauty sleep if I have to deal with my post-drunken pumpkin in the morning."

"We probably all will. The girl is notoriously grumpy with a hangover," Jacqui jested.

"Yes indeed," Cassie's father nodded. "I'm still in therapy after the 'Great High-School Prom Incident'."

"Don't remind me," Jacqui sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose with her fingers. "She's still mad at me about Shane whats-his-face."

Takeda looked to Jacqui suddenly, his eyebrows rose sharply in confusion at the mention of Jacqui's prom date. At first, Jin wasn't sure if Takeda was surprised, perhaps hearing this for the first time, or jealous there had been someone before Takeda and if he should be concerned. The Shirai Ryu scratched the back of his neck with his fingernails, his eyes catching his girlfriend's before she gave him a gentle pat on his shoulder.

"It wasn't much of a date," she comforted with a weak smile. Hana mewed in Jacqui's direction before glancing up at the whip-wielding ninja who still seemed awkwardly dejected. Her paw came up, landing on his chin.

_"Forget about her. You always have me, chugin."_

"Well, I'll grab the bags if you want to grab the cats, before the cat gets anymore out of the bag then it already is," Johnny offered, moving to sling the gym bag over his shoulder by its strap. "I'll go first and let you know when the coast is clear."

"At least everybody is asleep," Jacqui sighed, somewhat skeptical about getting the kittens to the room undetected.

"Everyone except Takeda's dad," Jin pointed out.

The side of the ninja's face pulled into a despondent smirk; as if he was responsible for them getting caught by the older telepath because he failed to warn them of his father's insomnia.

Without further interruption, Cage headed to the door, opening it and peeking out to watch out for any passer-bys. The kittens, alerted to the door ajar, perked their heads up and curiously started to make their way to the door. Jack and Hana wiggled fiercely to escape their human's clutches as RJ, TJ and Lia bounded towards the door.

Immediately, Jacqui and Takeda raced after them before they escaped through the door, however, despite years of military and ninja training, the three kittens evaded their captors and ran out the door.

To make matters worse, they froze in collective fear when they heard a familiar voice coming in the direction of Jacqui's room.

The General.


	6. Chapter 6

** Chapter 6   
** **Near Cat-astrophe**

* * *

Anyone that had the privilege of working beside Johnny Cage in one of his movies, knew he had a particular tendency for improvisation. However, no matter who it was, script supervisor or director —even the caterer agreed — said he was incompetent at it. They could suck his dick. He was amazing.

Ironically, and albeit most of the time, Cage usually _did_ stick to the script for that reason. At least, in his own humble opinion, he was under the impression he was. It wasn't because he was necessarily a stickler for the rules — far from it— if he didn't like something in the script he was adamant to call them out on it. Thus, his tendency for letting an unscripted quip bloomed. However, he seemed to be the only one that appreciated his quick whit. It wasn't his fault that none of the other actors could keep up with him, was it? He was just _too_ good.

However, to keep order and to make sure his fellow thespians didn't fumble their lines, he retained his desire to throw out a grade-a Johnny Cage wisecrack and allow his co-stars to be able to keep up with him. It was humble and tiring work on his part, but necessary in order to produce a bad-ass flick in the end he reassured himself. Despite it, it was the only aspect of his job that he ever felt was taxing.

So when he did see an opportunity to practice his improvisation, he flew to it like a fat kid on a cupcake.

With that being said, even Johnny genuinely surprised himself with the speed he fled out of Jacqui's room and into the unwitting arms of his ex. The actor swung her in a tight and overenthusiastic embrace as if he was a WWII soldier that had returned from deployment and meeting his beau at the train station.

Cage could visibly feel his former wife stiffen in his arms; he was adamantly surprised Sonya didn't start resisting him as she had done in the past which often resulted kneeing him hard enough in the balls to make sure she got her point across and simultaneously ensuring Cassie never had a sibling. Maybe she didn't have the energy, or she was just _finally_ succumbing the realization that his comical antics would never cease after all these years, regardless, he was grateful because it allowed him to spin her with her back facing the kittens bounding from Jacqui's room.

"Cage, I'm really not in the mood."

"Nothing a little Cage-cuddles can't help fix!"

Johnny heard Sonya let out an exasperated sigh as Lia, TJ, and RJ meandered around the camel-colored linoleum floor, periodically sniffing and stumbling along like miniature bloodhounds trying to find a scent. Jacqui and Takeda meanwhile snuck quietly out of the room, poking their heads around the door and waited for the opportune moment to pluck the kittens. The couple waited with apprehension, expecting Sonya to turn on her heels at any moment and catch them in the act. Meanwhile, the three bundles of mischievous fluffd continued to scamper further away from the door.

Johnny hugged her again, crushing her to his chest and let out an affectionate 'hmm', holding on to her like a life preserver in a vast ocean.

Though he couldn't see her, he sensed her twitching an irked eye, all the while he motioned for Jacqui and Takeda to move now to grab the cats; mouthing his command at them with silent haste.

"You have five seconds to let me go before I pummel you," Sonya warned.

"Mmmm, how about _three_ instead?" the actor jested, his tone dropping low as he wiggled his eyebrows. "I can't wait for five. I just _love_ it when you put your hands on me, babe."

"You're incredibly annoying," her viperous and irritated tone was sprinkled with humor, but Cage knew better than to test her. She would put him down and they both knew it. Not to say he didn't like it when she did; any excuse to wrestle with the blonde was always accepted, even if he came out with a few bruises _. That_ bit of improvised dialogue didn't need to be fabricated; it was the god's honest truth. However, at this moment, he didn't want to conclude the rest of his night in the Med Bay when Sonya found out about the adorable contraband walking behind her.

"No can do, you are _caged_ and your gonna like it," Cage responded, squeezing her tighter.

Johnny could feel Blade's eyebrow's knit together with abrupt suspicion; her face crinkled with mistrust and he could feel her eyes slide over to the side of his head. Burning a hole through him and his impromptu acting. "What's going on?"

The white cat looked up at him, its tiny blue eyes almost narrowing at him. He could swear it was contemplating whether or not it wanted to squeak at him or not, thus signaling Blade to their adorable existence. Instead, it locked on the General's boot, noticed the tip of her shoelace going _devastatingly_ underplayed with, and started to shamble over to it.

_"No. No. No. No. No."_

"Just missed you Sugar Plum, that's all," the Ninja Mime actor assured with false candied candor. However, his eyes were pleading with urgency to Takeda and Jacqui to grab the damn cats.

_"Please before I get kneed in the nuts, por favor?"_

The Shirai Ryu ninja was the first to sneak out of the room, approaching the kittens on light feet as they explored the hallway with curiosity. He grabbed Lia first and the kitten merely wiggled slightly in protest as he passed the female cat to Jacqui. Next came, RJ who had gotten too close to the back of Blade's boots for comfort. He left out a soft mew in protest which Johnny immediately covered with a forced cough into the General's ear. The Special Forces commander recoiled with exasperation that he had hacked right into her eardrum.

"Johnny, I swear if you don't let me go to bed—"

"Can I come? I've missed our struggle-cuddles!"

"That makes one of us," Sonya retorted.

"Ouch," Cage replied with a crestfallen face. His eyes glanced over to Takeda, widening them in impatience to grab TJ as he let Sonya go.

Finally, she wiggled out of his grasp the same time the young ninja grabbed TJ and tossed the kitten to Jacqui, who caught the orange flying fluff and shut the door. Takeda, who was left out in the hall as Sonya turned on her heels, cleared his throat as her eyes landed on the young Takahashi with a raised eyebrow.

"Evening General," the ninja greeted with an awkward smile, his arms crossing over his chest as he leaned against Jacqui's doorway. The young telepath stumbled a bit, causing him to uncross his arms to regain his footing. Instead, he opted for standing straight with a stiff grin that did little to mask his embarrassment and only amplify it more.

The older blonde narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the door, knowing well who the room belonged to, and then back to the young Shirai Ryu before the ghost of a smile developed upon her tired features.

"Takeda," she nodded back, an eyebrow rising at him. "Little far from your quarters, aren't you?"

The younger man scratched the back of his neck sheepishly, a rose-colored hue enveloping his cheeks at her accusation; the same accusation discreetly disguised as a mere observation.

"Well, umm, yes I was just... saying _hi_ ," Takahashi bumbled out. Johnny snorted as Sonya raised her hand, stopping Takeda from explaining any further.

"It's fine. Your both adults," she rationalized with a detached tone. But her eyes still narrowed minutely with humor when she added: "I just hope that you both are not doing something that Jacqui's father wouldn't want to catch you doing?"

Takeda shook his head. "No ma'am," he gave a small chuckle and shrugged, "But I think Jax is warming up to me. At least, that's what Jacqui said."

"That's good."

Sonya looked to her ex, allowing Takeda to swallow nervously behind her back as she fixed her attention back to Johnny. Her militaristic deadpan returned now that there was a witness to the divorced couple's interactions and she simply gave Cage a once up-and-down; doing her best to silently interrogate the reasoning for his latest antics. Cage didn't betray anything, and instead gave her a characteristic and sloppily seductive wink that broke the last of her desire to speculate. Instead, the fatigued General pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed: "I'm going to bed. Goodnight."

The blonde past by Takeda without another word and both the younger Takahashi and older actor let out a silent and collected sigh of relief until she suddenly stopped dead in the hallway. They held their breath, both of them trying to understand how she indescribably found out about the kittens until she let out a loud sneeze, one that echoed through the hallway and possibly throughout the entire base. Cage put a fist to his mouth, doing his best to stifle his laughter. His clandestine plan was already underway, and knowing her allergies, knew it would be getting worse from here on.

Eventually, she walked around the corner, finally disappearing, and Jacqui and Kung Jin stuck their heads out, Briggs with Hana and Kung Jin with RJ in hand, from the Specialist's room to acknowledge their own relief that the cats had gone unnoticed.

"That was too close," Jacqui frowned. Her brown eyes locked to Jin, "You're going to get caught. You _gotta_ get them out as soon as you're able to."

The archer's mouth tugged up in resistance to her assertive conclusion. "I'm aware. Thanks."

Takeda's brows furrowed at his girlfriend, his eyes landing on the calico in her hands. "I thought you liked them?"

Jacqui sighed at the sentimental ninja's dejected statement. "I do Takeda. But, right now, _that_ just proved that Jin isn't going to keep them hidden for long."

The thief scoffed. "Watch me. I'm not scared of General _Braid_."

Brigg's eyes narrowed at both the archer's moniker for her godmother and his pompous tone. "Well, I would be— especially as soon as you get caught."

"Not sensing a lot of confidence from you Jacky," Cage chimed in, a skeptical eyebrow raised in her direction.

Briggs shrugged, her eyes narrowed resolutely in conjecture to her opinion. "I'm just stating the obvious since no one else will."

Hana, who had been quietly observing the conversation, suddenly let out a quiet mew and wiggled from her grasp. The kitten landed haphazardly to the ground, but without any harm, and trotted over to Takeda who gladly scooped up the painted cat.

Takeda smirked and gave Jacqui a pointed, but sarcastic look. "See? They don't _like_ you anymore."

The cat, named after Grandmaster Hasashi, narrowed its eyes almost as if in contempt at the Specialist; as if it had any understanding of the discussion going on between the humans.

 _"Revenge... I_ **t** **hirst** _for it. Fear me Jacquiween Bigs."_

Suddenly, Hana unleashed a long yawn before she started to lay down, sandwiched between Takeda's hands and chest where he cradled her. Her eyes closed.

_"But first I must sleep. Tomorrow. Tomorrow I shall have my revenge."_

Jacqui rubbed her forehead with her palm, as if trying to sponge away a headache that had formed."Look, I never said I didn't like them. If I didn't I wouldn't be helping you, but I gotta say something. I'm already bracing myself when General Blade finds out."

"Don't shake in your Special Forces boots, Briggs," Kung Jin chided with a cocksure tug at the corner of his mouth, "They'll be outta here. Trust me. I got no plans on keeping them here when they become teenagers. Cassie's already enough as an annoyance, don't need more."

"Speaking of which. Are we telling Cassie or not?" Takeda chimed in. He looked down at the sleeping Hana in his arms and sighed. "I mean, do we really trust her to keep a secret?"

Johnny smirked. "She won't spill."

The younger recruits looked to the actor for clarification, and he chuckled lightly. "Me and Cass were pros at hiding things from Sonya whenever we snuck shit in. Trust me, she'll keep it a secret."

Jacqui acquiesced with a slight tip of her head, confirming that what he said was true. Takeda seemed to accept his explanation as well, but Kung Jin was the only one that seemed unimpressed.

"Eh, we'll see," was all the Shaolin remarked, his eyes suddenly drifting towards his feet where a certain black panther was attacking the hem of his jeans with a warrior's prowess.

Its needle like claws suddenly got caught in the fabric and it pulled with earnest, but to no avail, and it began to fling itself upon the floor wildly trying to release its claw from Jin's pant-leg. It cried, the immovable digit still sunk deep before Jin stooped down and let RJ go to help it remove the single claw and picked it up. Jack stared at him as he brought it level with Jin's eyes, and playfully batted at the Shaolin's nose with eagerness; its flexed claws mere centimetres from scratching the archer's nose.

Jin suddenly caught an odious whiff of the kitten's paw, realization hitting him at how much the little black fluff reeked. Since pulling them from the dumpster, Kung Jin and the others had became somewhat acclimated to their smell —their cuteness overshadowing their odor — but the subtle reminder was enough for him to remember how badly they needed a bath.

"Gods you stink," the Shaolin grimaced, his nose wrinkling in disgust. The black kitten stared at him, blinking blankly at his statement before it mewed passively at him.

_"No. **You** stink, stupid hooman."_

Lia, who had sauntered out of the room, found herself plucked up by Jacqui who brought her to her nose, inhaling into her fur. The Specialist let out a vocal 'oof' and gave the kitten a frown. "You do too."

Lia squeaked indignantly at her. _"I am a **lady**! I do not smell _— _what's your excuse, Wackileen Riggs."_

Takeda shifted his eyes, looked down at the sleeping Hana, and bent his spine towards his chest so he could also sniff the calico. The younger Takahashi blinked his eyes, as if the smell had caused his eyes to water. "Yup."

Kung Jin, looked at RJ and TJ, who were currently locked in a heated battle in the middle of the tile floor of Jacqui's room, and gave a heavy sigh in realization.

"Guess you are all getting a bath before I can get any shut-eye," the archer griped. "Great."

As soon as the realization was voiced, Kung Jin detected a noticeable shift with his co-conspirators: they were all just as keen on giving the kittens a bath as he was. Everyone knew that cats hated water, and the prospect of having to struggle with five razor-sharped clawed kittens flailing out of a bath full of water wasn't as fun as simply playing with him.

Johnny raised his hands over his head, his fingers interlocking, and stretched before taking his leave. "Well, you have fun with that. I'm hitting the sack. See you kiddos tomorrow."

The ex-thief frowned at the older actor's departure, giving him a hard glare at the back of his head as Cage passed by him and walked in the same direction as Blade had.

Jin turned to Takeda, who looked down at Hana soundly sleeping into the crook of his arms, and then back to his friend with a sign. "I'll at least help you carry them and the stuff back to your room, but I'm tired too."

The Shaolin signed, unsatisfactorily accepting that it was the best he could hope for from Takeda, before he eyed Briggs who stared blankly at him and past the door into the room. For a moment, he thought she was going to offer her help as well, before she blandly explained: "You're in my room Jin, and you're on your own."

Kung Jin bit his lip, a glower present on his face as he glanced at the kittens who — with the exception of Hana — stared up at him as if they were waiting for him to acknowledge them. TJ, who was sneezing away a bit of white fuzz he had pulled from his litter-mate's fur during their tussle, looked around curiously before mewing up at him.

_"What'd I miss?"_

* * *

The easy part had been to get the cats into Kung Jin's room, only because he had assistance from Takeda and Jacqui (who agreed to help thanks to her boyfriend). However, as the agitated archer eyed his shower stall inside of his bare, military standard washroom, he wished he had negotiated that they help him with bathing the cats if he carried all the cat shit into the room by himself. Especially when he was now trying to corral them into the bathroom, which proved to be a near impossible task.

As soon as they entered his quarters and he had set them down, they took off in his room. Ping-ponging every direction and exploring their new environment, the only light source coming from the blinding light bouncing off the equally blinding white bathroom. There really wasn't much to Jin's issued room, just a suitcase full of clothes, some still lingering in the luggage, and his more important articles he hung in the small closet. His quiver and bow were propped against the small desk that housed his computer, his gold headdress and where his chakram lay. The only source of entertainment in his room was from small flat screen tv that hung on the wall behind him, other than that, there was not much to compare it to besides a prison cell. Just bigger.

Everything else, from his fletching kit for his arrows and some shoes, were stored underneath his bed. The kittens, however took to the new place as if it was a newly arrived carnival. Too many treasures to explore and so little time, something catching each their eyes, and making them quickly forget they had other siblings or an unhappy master as they ventured into the cavalcade of unexplored fun. Leaving Kung Jin with an even bigger problem then when he entered. He only had so many hands. At least Jacqui had closed the door for him, if not, there would have been no guarantee that he would have misplaced one and it would have roamed down the hall, lost forever.

Suddenly, he heard a commotion and saw Jack had somehow climbed onto the desk when he wasn't looking (had to be by teleportation, there was no way else to explain how he got up there so fast). The cat pried at the quiver, poking its paws against the leather before it stilled, locked on to the feathers of his arrows, and pounced with tiny, haphazard mischievousness.

_"Kamikaze!"_

"Hey! That's not a chew toy!" Kung Jin snapped at Jack who was biting the feathered end of one of his arrows sticking out of his quiver. The panther gnawed on it, ignoring his keeper, and began pulling strings of feather from the arrow.

Jin, who had managed to set down Lia in the bathroom before they scattered, marched over and grabbed the troublesome black cat and pulled him away from the fletching. Except, the cat grabbed onto the shaft of the arrow and clung tight, bringing the arrow out of the quiver as Jin lifted him up.

The Shaolin grasped the shaft and tried tugging it away from the cat, but to no avail, with every small tug the cat hung on tighter. Clinging to it like a monkey.

"Let. It. Go," he scolded, each word accompanied with a tug from him.

The black kitten mewed long and hard at him when he finally was able to detach it, getting the cat far away from the razor tipped projectile.

_"It's miiiiinnnneee! Go get your own!"_

As soon as he had Jack in his arms, he noticed that Lia had began to saunter out of the bathroom, romping to join Hana as the calico dived under the bed. The Lin Kuei kitten joined her as well, escaping the hands of the archer who hadn't been quick enough to grab the pair.

Ignoring Jack sporadically biting the top of his hand, trying to get Jin to let him go, and the arrow he had pried away in the other, the Shoalin crouched, getting on hands and knees as best as he could, to look at the two sets of beady eyes staring back at him from under the bed and far enough out of his reach.

"Get your little fuzzy asses out here before I decide to make a cat shish-kebab out of all of you," Kung Jin warned as he pointed the tip of the arrow at both of them.

They just sat on their back legs, the bed frame tall enough that their heads barely grazed the bottom and looked at him. He flipped the arrow around, showing the fletching to them and tried to bait them out with it.

"C'mon... see the pretty birdie? Get the birdie! You can do it— ugh, c'mon you cute, little jerks— get the bird!"

They did nothing. Seemingly unimpressed by his attempt.

 _"Let's mock him with our indifference."_ Hana suggested, looking at Lia looked who returned the kitten's stare.

_"Yes. Ready?"_

_"Ready, Lia."_

They both had the gull to turn their back to him, continuing to navigate under the bed. Kung Jin watched as they approached his boots, the same ones he wore almost always on mission with an eyebrow raised. The kittens sniffed at them, the boots on their sides to accommodate fitting under the bed. The clan-master kittens both approached one, Hana sniffing at the laces as Lia came to the opening. The thief watched half in amusement and half in impatience as Lia began to burrow inside his shoe like a mole in a hole and disappear completely inside.

_"My goodness, there are all kinds of awful smells in here, sister. Come. Take a sniff."_

Hana, currently occupied with eating Jin's shoelace, ignored the muffled meowing of its litter mate, as it pulled at the lace and tried to unravel it from the shoe. But, it's weak kitten strength was no match for the treacherous boot as the tiny cat tugged on the cord, pulling so hard that its back feet started to slide across the linoleum each time it backed up.

_"This rope for my kunai will do nice. Once it is mine, I shall get my revenge on the evil lady betrayer my chugin loves."_

"Ow! You little shit," Kung Jin suddenly yelped as Jack buried his needle teeth so hard into his hand he drew blood. Jack stared up at him, his teeth still buried in his hand as the green-eyed cat began to back-peddle his feet into Jin's wrist with mini ferocity; trying to kangaroo him to death.

_"Release me, or be destroyed."_

The Shaolin sighed, before he picked himself up, the arrow still in hand, and headed towards the door of his bathroom. Quickly, he pushed kitten across the linoleum floor like a fuzzy hockey puck, and closed the door quickly behind him. Trapping him inside before he recovered and scampered to the door.

One down, four to go.

Jin, who realized that he was missing two, panned around the room for orange and white until he spotted them on top of his desk... both of them staring contemplatively at his bow/staff that was propped against the table.

"Don't you two even _think_ about it," Kung Jin hissed out his warning, pointing the barbed end of the arrow at them like a Catholic school nun with a ruler. Oh, he understood _fully_ well what the two kittens were planning as they eyed one of his most precious possessions.

Raiden Jr. took a glance at the Shaolin before squeaking softly to the orange tiger who continue to fixate on the bow with a hundred percent of his full attention. There was no one else in the room... just bow.

_"He seems indignant, brother. Perhaps we should find something else-"_

Kung Jin nearly screamed at the top of his lungs before he stopped himself, his self-control allowing only a startled choked gasp to issue from him as he dived forward to try and catch the staff from hitting the ground when TJ suddenly leaped at the top, wrapped his paws around the dragon-headed mount, and rode it all the way down like a lumberjack riding down a falling tree.

Even RJ seemed distraught and let out a loud meow, his hair rising as it fluffed up in alarm. _"Brother no!"_

TJ let out a distressed meow as the staff flew too the ground. _"I made a mistake!"_

Kung Jin landed on his stomach with an audible 'umpf' escaping him, but caught both the ginger cat and his staff in his outstretched palm before either them hit the ground. The archer glared at the kitten, the very same one still attached the dragon head of his staff, as it gave a small hiss in his direction; as if it was mad that he had saved him from plummeting to the ground.

"I'm skinning you and turning you into a pair of mittens if you touch my bow again, jerk," the Shaolin grumbled at the cat, pointing the arrow still somehow in his hand at the orange colored cat. TJ jumped from his perch, as if oblivious he even made a threat at him, and came towards his face, rubbing his body against the thief's face and purring affectionately.

 _"You won't kill me. I am too precious to murder, you dumb, stinky hooman,"_ TJ conveyed as he nuzzled lovingly against his face. The arrow left the Jin's hand and reached around to grab the orange kitten by the scruff as he climbed himself back to his feet with the cat's scruff pinched between his fingers.

The tiger meowed angrily at him, his body twisting. " _Ow_ — _you asshole!"_

Kung Jin juggled the tabby into his palm, cupping the kitten under its stomach, before he walked over to RJ who stared up at him with silence, blinking its blue eyes at him as if in accepting submission.

 _"I know that we are to be bathed. We are all putrid according to your senses. It wounds me deeply to hear you say such a thing."_ The white kitten suddenly let out a low disdainful growl as its sapphire eyes darkened. _"But mark my words, Kung Jin. We will not go without a fight. Tremble before our collective might."_

The Shaolin let out a sigh and gathered the white cat into his other hand, beginning his stride towards the door. As soon as he opened it, he tossed the other two inside and closed the door quickly before Jack, who was clawing at the door, could escape. As soon as he shut the door, he heard all three of the entrapped kittens, scratch and cry pitifully.

 _"He locked us is! The bipedal talking monkey-freak locked us in_ — _oh, there's a spider in here. Lunch."_

_"Brothers, we shall be fine. He is collecting the rest of our companions."_

_"Lemme at him! He's lucky he's got this door to stop me. I'll bite that Shaolin Duck's nose off!"_

Kung Jin rubbed the palms of his hands slowly down his face, as if it would help physically sponge away his annoyance he felt with his tiny wards. However, he felt his face drop, a frown upon his face, when he looked down towards his shoes and saw Lia and Hana sitting before him. Staring passively up at him as if they were innocent. Lia, had managed to drag in the insole of his shoe out, and sat behind it as if it was an offering to the gods, all the while Hana dangled a shoelace in her mouth — bitten and removed using her sharp kitten teeth.

The calico looked up at him while Lia batted at the insole gently. _"I have the rope. Do you perhaps have a sharp pointy thing I can use to finish my kunai?"_

The archer let out another tired sigh as he reached down and scooped the remaining kittens up and headed to the door.

* * *

Jin took it all back, the worst personal experience in his life by far was bathing cats. Not the instance where he broke his arm falling out of a tree and certainly not the time he got food-poising from sampling something he thought was benign out of the garbage when he was at his hungriest. Even meeting Cassie and her father didn't pale in comparison.

No, it was being forced to hold all five kittens in his arms, all of them dangling as he braced them between his arms and chest as he stood in his underwear while water cascaded down on all of them. It was the only way he could bathe them and retain his sanity — albeit it was the most humiliating thing he had to do in his life, despite there was no one there to see it.

As soon as he had turned the shower head on, the kittens made it nearly impossible for him to keep them under the soft water inside the stall. Kung Jin thought to try one at a time to make the task easier, starting with TJ since he knocked over his staff, but soon found himself distracted by the other troublesome four that ventured inside the room. Lia had managed to fall inside the toilet, and Jin had to stop washing TJ in order to ensure she didn't drown. The orange cat was _not_ happy, and yelled at him repeatedly like it was a mini car alarm.

At the same time, RJ had somehow climbed to the sink, found his shaving razor on the counter and had batted at it gingerly until it reached the edge before the white kitten gave it one last tap before it fell and the clattered the floor. He didn't know the kitten had knocked it over until Jin had accidentally stepped on it, cutting his foot, while fishing Lia out of the toilet. Meanwhile, Jack had once again taken a fascination with this pants and latched on to the back of his thigh, gluing himself with his claws digging through the fabric and into his flesh.

Hana, preoccupied herself with the cut shoelace she had gathered, almost swallowing it whole, until Kung Jin placed a soaking wet Lia on the ground and pulled it from the kitten's mouth like a magician pulling colored scarves from its sleeve. Then the calico threw up which he had to clean up, all the while Jack still attached to his pants and his foot bleeding.

With all the cats getting into their own precarious mischief, the Shaolin had to settle on a quick, and unbearably humiliating compromise. He removed his clothes, except for his briefs (feeling weird being nude in front of them) and clumped them all together in his arms and stood underneath the shower.

Jin grumbled his curse under his breath as the kittens squirmed, mewing pitifully as they tried to wiggle free. He felt one of them bite him, but it was impossible to tell who with his dark, long hair hanging like a black curtain in front of his face.

Thank the Elder Gods there was no one around to see him like this.

And especially Cassie and the others... they'd never let him live this down.

If the archer had to guess, he'd say he had only been in the shower for under 3 minutes before he got tired of the kittens clawing, drawing blood and biting him like tiny piranhas, before he relented and got out of the shower. After placing them on the ground, each of them looking like malnourished wet rats, he grabbed the white towel and began to run it over them, all the while his hair dripped rivets onto the fake tile floor.

As soon the Shaolin gave them all a brief once over with the towel, the kittens settled into licking themselves dry. All except for RJ who stared crossly up at him, its fur spiked from the water and the brief session with the towel.

_"Whoever this **Raiden** is that you named me after... he will know our plight and hurt you accordingly. I will tell him the moment I see him."_

Jin took the half soaked towel and began drying his own hair, his attention stolen by TJ suddenly as the kitten yowled heatedly as it stared down at the floor. _"I'm cold... I'm cold... I'm **wet** and I'm **cold.**.._ _"_

Lia and Hana licked each other, grooming the water away with their sand-paper tongues, while the tiny jaguar began licking at the drain in the shower, trying to slurp up any water it could get. _"This puddle tastes salty."_

The Shaolin, now with damp and exhausted, dumped the white towel on the floor and shambled to the bathroom door. With all the depleting energy he had, he regained enough foresight to go over to the cat's supplies, set out their food, bowls, and their litter box — far away from his bed and in the corner — before he landed face first in the bed.

The cats free to do whatever the hell they wished.

He didn't know how long he had been out, or if he even slept at all, but the next thing he knew he felt frenzied scampering all around his bed, and lifted his tired head to see Lia and Hana chasing each other across his bed like tiny crack addicts. Jack scratched at the corner of the litter box, flinging bits of rock to each corner of Jin's room as if he was digging frantically for fossils buried underneath. Meanwhile, TJ sat on his head, chewing on a lock of hair, while RJ snuggled in a ball between the junction of his shoulder and chin. The white kitten slept peacefully, the only one granting him a reprieve from their collected obnoxiousness.

Honestly, he didn't even care anymore that the others were still being assholes.

The archer just wanted some fucking sleep.

Kung Jin knocked out again, and woke drowsily, unsure if it had been another 20 minutes or 2 hours, to see all the kittens had finally tuckered out and were sleeping soundly on various parts of the bed. TJ was still on his head, his chin and paws resting on top of the Shaolin's. RJ was still in the same spot he last saw him, and Hana, Jack and Lia were all cuddled in a pile between his legs.

If the thief wasn't so tired, he would have made an effort to push away the mushy feeling he felt all of a sudden. Seeing them so content with him and trusting him enough to sleep near him. However, instead of acknowledging it, he face-planted his face back into the pillow, and finally got the sleep he had been craving since taking on this unexpected venture into parenthood.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7  
** **Cat Naps** **  
**

* * *

Oh yea, she regretted last night. Like, on a scale from one to ten, she was past all concept of numbers; no mathematician, dead or alive, could pinpoint the exact equation needed to evaluate how hungover Cassie felt. But, at the same time, it hadn't been the first time she had felt like she had been trampled on by a group of elephants hopping on her body with pogo-sticks. Beverly Hills High School Prom Night had been far worse hands down. And like Prom Night, her dad had come through like he always did for her.

Droopy eyes focused through the dark haze of her Special Forces room, pinpointing the desk lamp that had been left on all night (the rest of the lights turned off courtesy of Johnny), and next to it, was all the sustenance needed to aid her through the day while she shambled around in her post-drunken stupor. Cassie, laying face first on her pillow that had been drenched in her own drool, slowly rolled off the bed; groaning as her brain slammed heavily against the front of her skull. Cage shuffled to her bare feet, her whole body feeling like she was under the bone-crushing gravitational pressure of the surface of Jupiter and meandered towards the bottle of grape flavored Pedialyte that beckoned like the Holy Grail to King Arthur.

The young blonde wiped the crusts from the corner of her eyelids, her eyes feeling as if they were going to melt out of her sockets as she tried to ignore the brightness of the desk lamp. When her blue eyes finally adjusted, she couldn't help but smile at the junk food array her dad had hooked her up with.

Being Hollywood royalty, Johnny was accustomed to late night premiere parties were he got hammered as hard as Cassie had last night. She was always behind him; years of experience helping him strengthen up a tolerance that she was still working at herself. Ironically, Cassie was only a party-girl sparingly, when she knew she could get away with it, and even less since being in the Special Forces; so when she got the opportunity, she tended to go over the top with it. Although Jacqui and her still had some fun desert parties in the barracks during their tours. So, the older Cage knew exactly what to provide for the morning-after for his kiddo, and she laughed softly at the squiggly orange straw that sat next to the Pedialyte. Next to the pediatrician recommended drink, she noticed a few packages of powdered donuts, bananas and pretzels, and a handwritten note that usually didn't accompany her snacks.

Cassie picked it up, unfolding the note and adjusted her tired eyes, trying to decipher her father's gifted penmanship. Through her muddy daze though, she might as well be reading cuneiform. After a moment, the English language returned to her and she blinked at the words.

_**Car is puke-free. :)** _

_**Text me if you need anything, kiddo.** _

_**P.S : Katniss Ever-Jin has something that will cheer you up.** _

The first two lines of text were nothing odd; and she was relieved she didn't throw up in her dad's expensive sports car. Last time she had; he made her clean it up. It sucked, but she deserved the punishment—she made the mess after all. However, his postscript was what threw her off, and for a moment, thought that she was hallucinating the words.

What could Kung Jin possibly have?

The corner of her mouth pulled up quickly with a dubious flicker as she went to unscrew the top of the Pedialyte. As she stuffed the straw inside, the orange squiggly avoiding her lips for a moment as she pursed them trying to find the end, she couldn't help but let a frown mar her features.

Hungover or not, she remembered him being a dick last night.

It was enough to erase any curiosity that she had from the note.

All they had been trying to do was get the stick out of his Shaolin ass. The guy was always so uptight, despite that they were on better terms now since their fun adventure in Outworld. Cassie always figured that Jin and her were too similar; too sarcastic for anyone to keep up with. She theorized that because they were too likeminded, it caused them to butt heads. However, Cassie wasn't afraid of a social life. She was the extrovert while the bookworm was the introvert. Honestly, she felt kind of bad for the guy. His nose was always buried deep away inside the pages of something intellectual, dusty and oh, so boring. He needed to get out and have some fun. So, it bit at her when he rejected her favor— Takeda's and Jacqui's as well—for a night out. All they were trying to do was help, where was the harm in that?

The sergeant sucked the grape flavored electrolyte drink harshly, the sound of air being sucked through the straw echoing around the room, conveying her agitation with the archer almost too acutely.

She stood by her previous hypothesis about the Shaolin before she got hammered drunk: the dude needed to find some love.

Even though Jacqui and Takeda were more reticent about the idea, they all had come to the same conclusion as well that Jin needed to find someone. It hadn't really escaped their notice that he would eyeball Takeda and Jacqui's relationship with a pessimistic longing; jealous of what they had. Cassie had no problems getting laid or picking up anyone she fancied, Jin however, seemed to fumble; unsure how to even begin. He wanted to try but backed out at the last second. Cage had suspected it was because he was still a newcomer to the whole idea; his devotion to the Shaolin lifestyle had overshadowed the need to fulfill a basic human need. Cassie was positive, however, knowing he was greatly confident when he was comfortable, that he could reel in a good fish if he decided to put the bait out.

Now, she was hesitant about even trying to help him again after he stormed out of dinner like an asshole. Fine, if he didn't want any help, then he could figure it out on his own.

But she also knew that no matter how many internet articles he read, or how many magazines he poured through in the Rec Room looking for dating advice, there was no substitute for trial and error.

A thought crossed her mind, and she looked back at the note in her hands again with sudden interest.

Her dad had also been aware of Jin's dilemma, the actor pretty perceptive about what was going on with the kiddos since they were his to watch over, but he had taken as much interest as a spectator in the crowd; watching with a metaphorical bag of popcorn and waiting for the drama to unfold. So, it shot a dose of optimistic eagerness through her when her dad even mentioned Jin in her note.

She looked back at his words, trying to decipher the message like it was a Davinci Code.

_**Katniss Ever-Jin has something that will cheer you up.** _

Well, she was no Tom Hanks, but did it mean what Cassie thought it meant?

Did Jin _finally_ find some love?

Her father's own brand of mischievousness was quite the same as hers, once a grasshopper that learned well from the master. They always thought on the same wavelength when it came to pranks. Her hungover brain, melted jello in her skull, slowly began to formulate the double meaning behind the older Cage's words. Johnny knew that Cassie was adamant about being Kung Jin's wingman, so, the only thing she could think of was that he had finally gotten laid.

A snicker left her lips, happy that the punk had finally got the balls to go out and do what she wanted him to.

She sucked on the straw, her lips twitching with amusement, as a million questions ran through her mind. Who was it? Someone in the base? Someone he met on the street? Was the guy handsome? Normal? A pain in the ass like he was?

Her blue eyes went over towards her own door.

Was he in Jin's room now?

Was that why her dad wanted her to go over and saunter to the reclusive Shaolin's room? To go take a peek so she could give Jin some shit? She didn't really want to make him feel bad, she was quite pleased that her goal had been accomplished despite the speedbump. But, there was also no harm in a little light teasing. The Shaolin could dish it out as best as Cassie served it, so, she wasn't too worried.

Besides, she just _had_ to know what the lucky guy looked like. It was eating at her.

The sergeant grabbed a navy-blue hoodie from her closet, zipping it up over her white t-shirt, before she donned on a pair of black flip-flops. She placed the note inside her grey sweatpants before she adjusted her disheveled hair by giving it a rough toss with her hand, and headed towards Jin's room with her Pedialyte; sipping it like a kid heading to recess with a juice box.

* * *

If anyone would ask him, Kung Jin would have told them his first night with the kittens went swimmingly. It had gone the complete opposite, though. After what the archer had assumed was a few hours of peace, all five of the fluffy balls of chaos had bounced back with renowned energy. He silently wished he possessed as much energy as they did; a five second cat nap, and then ready to cause havoc. He'd be unstoppable. Able to conquer the world. But, then as quickly as they turned on, they switched off. Falling back asleep on him and bestowing the archer with only intervals of rest.

Then they were back at it.

All. Night. Long.

Back and forth.

From cute kitten slumber, back to miniature cat-shaped demons from the NetherRealm sent to terrorize him.

Currently, Jin stared at the ceiling on his back. Wide awake in the dark with bags under his eyes as all five kittens entrapped him to the bed by simply laying on him. His eyes rolled back, looking to his forehead to see the orange tabby stare down at him upside-down with the indifference of a pompous maharaja with a slave. To the best of his ability, the Shaolin glowered at TJ as he stared into the beady little blue eyes of the kitten that laid on his head.

Meanwhile, his siblings slept on him. Hana with her head resting on the back of Lia's neck as they slept between the space between his knees. Jack had passed out by his foot, his soft head leaned against the top of his bare foot with its paws wrapped around. Every so often, if the archer dared to move his foot, it would cause the panther to wake, clamp down on him with its claws and teeth, bite the shit out of him, and then fall back to sleep moments after. Meanwhile, the kitten that was _supposed_ to be the easiest of all of them, Raiden Jr., currently had its white face pressed against the outside of Jin's cheek as its arms sprawled on each side of his face; using his face literally as a pillow.

And to make matters worse, he had to pee.

But he also couldn't move, fearing if he did so and disturbed them all, the wrath of all the Elder Gods would descend down upon him with furious rebuke. They were all so peaceful, so content, and they were just little babies. How could he be so selfish? They were all so cute in their very obnoxious yet innocent way.

His stomach growled and he knew he was missing breakfast in the Mess Hall the more he continued to involuntarily remain trapped beneath them. He let out a puff of air through his nostrils; knowing he would be skipping a meal. TJ squeaked softly above him, and he looked back to see the orange cat's eyes narrow at him.

_"Suffer Shaolin Duck... suffer and pee your pants."_

The thief pursed his lips, his tired brain working on a plan on how to sneak away from them so he could start his day. It was all interrupted when he heard a knock at his door.

"Housekeeping!" came a pitched female's voice. Kung Jin frowned hard, knowing who it was despite the forced high-pitch comical tone in her voice.

"Go away, Cassie."

A pause came at the door as soon as he barked out his sardonic reply before he heard her rap her knuckles against the door once more. "Housekeeping! You want mint for pillow?"

"Jump off a bridge, Cage."

"After you, Shaolin punk," Cassie came again in the same voice.

Jin let out a huff at the same time the kittens began to rise, looking at the door like gophers sticking their heads out of their holes on high alert when they heard someone at the door.

 _"New person?"_ Lia blinked.

 _"New person!"_ Jack sprung from the bed, heading towards the door.

 _"New person?!"_ Hana glowered, mewing with disdain.

TJ hissed from his perch on top of the Shaolin's head. _"Great. Another stinky and stupid hooman."_

Raiden Jr. licked the underside of Jin's jaw before eyeing the door with suspicion. _"Kung Jin, I believe there is a vagabond at your door. Approach with great caution."_

However, Kung Jin couldn't approach the door, as all four of Jack's siblings continued to lay on him as the panther clawed at the door while balanced on its back legs. He was still unable to escape from his prison of four kitten bodies. Regardless, he doubted that he would have answered the door for Cassie anyway. From the other side of the door, he heard a breedle of buttons being pushed—a sound that could only come from texting on a cell phone. Not a second later, he heard his issued cell phone beep next to him, and without looking, he reached over to the bedside table and grabbed it; knowing well enough who it was that was texting him.

He lifted an eyebrow at what Cassie sent him.

**Cassie: Can you at least get a selfie of you two so I can go back to bed? :)**

The Shaolin bridged his eyebrows. What was she talking about? In response, he danced his fingers over the touchscreen phone, typing his reply.

 **Kung Jin:** **?**

**Cassie: C'mon Jin, you know what I'm talking about. ;)**

RJ stood and stretched before he bumped into his cell phone, rubbing the side of it as if using the device to scratch an itch it had on the side of his face. The sudden motion caused Jin to loose grip on the phone, and in doing so, felt the phone drop flat on his face. He let out an annoyed huff of air through his nose before he picked the phone up from his face and replied to Cassie.

**Kung Jin: I'm in here by myself, stupid.**

**Cassie: Sure you are...**

Kung Jin frowned at the GIF sent of Spongebob Squarepants doing finger-guns by Cassie. Before he could type out another irate message, he noticed Jack swipe its paw under the door, able to squeeze it between the small bit of empty section that separated the wood from the floor. He heard Cassie let out a surprised 'what the fuck' on the other side at the same time Jack was pulled forward and his head knocked on the door. The kitten let out a sharp yowl before it clambered away from the door; shaking its head as it blinked its eyes; trying to get rid of the pain. _"Owie owie... her evil foot attacked me."_

He heard Cassie take a pause behind the door, before he heard her chicken-pecking at her phone again.

**Cassie: What the hell was that?**

Kung Jin paused, his thumb tapping absently against the side of the black smartphone. Even though the others had said she wouldn't spill to Sonya of their adorable contraband, Jin was still reticent about letting her in on it. The sergeant had a notoriously big mouth, and he doubted she would keep it shut tight. Perhaps he didn't have to tell her... maybe she would just go away and go back to her room and forget about the whole thing.

TJ suddenly let out a loud squeak in the direction of the door, as if the orange tabby was also yelling at Cassie to go away. However, considering the temperamental orange asshole, Jin knew it was selling him out on purpose.

_"Help! We've been cat-napped! He tortured us! Gave us a bath! A BATH!"_

The kitten looked down at him, its eyes narrowing minutely at him. _"Suffer."_

His phone dinged again.

**Cassie: WTF. Was that a cat?**

The archer let out a sigh, before his eyes glanced towards his desk.

**Kung Jin: T.V is on.**

**Cassie: So the TV grabbed me too?**

He clicked his tongue in disappointment, his eyes landing on the black kitten the scaled the side of the bed and came to the right side of his face. The corner of the Shaolin's mouth picked up at the side, scorning the black cat with half playful resentment and tired exasperation that he had spilled the beans by attacking Cassie.

"Thanks," he mumbled to the cat.

Jack cocked his head to the side before coming over to bump-rub his head against the side of Jin's cheek, as if admitting its apology to its master. _"I'm sorry, but her toes had to be punished."_

Meanwhile, Lia and Hana began to navigate the bed, squeaking periodically, when Kung Jin heard tapping coming from the door. Turning his head, he noticed the tip of an orange plastic straw snake its way under the door. Cassie wiggled it under the door, baiting the kittens, who took it hook, line and sinker. Hana was the first to leap from the bed after Jack had noticed it second.

Both cats raced to the straw, and with the calico in the lead, Jack sprung on her like a lion taking down a zebra to stop her from getting to it first. Hana twisted, flailing, and hissing at its sibling as Jack clamped down. They rolled into a single tumbleweed; nothing but caterwauling, hair and limbs flying so much that it made it nearly impossible to tell who was who. Their Shaolin was about to break it up, until RJ raced from the bed, and joined the fight. The white kitten clamped down on the back of Hana's neck and pushed the kitten to the ground with its paw, breaking up the fight. Meanwhile, Jack huffed, a single paw outstretched towards its sister with tiny malicious contempt. Hana in the meantime, growled indignantly, causing the sapphire-eyed kitten to push its paw harder on her face.

_"There shall be no more of this foolish quarrel, my fellow kittens."_

Hana mewed pitifully with defiance. _"I will have my revenge, RJ! I will not be denied! Where is my kunai?!"_

_"You nearly swallowed it the night previous, before our remorseless master tortured us with water."_

_"... oh, yes... now I remember."_

Jack sat on his back paws and began to groom himself, licking his wounds with a warrior's pride. _"A panther must defend its kill. Or it will starve."_ Jack bleeped; a small bit of its tiny pink tongue poking through its lips.

 _"It's a straw, you fool!"_ Hana hissed. _"You cannot eat it."_

The orange plastic tapped noisily at the door once again, and Jack sauntered over to the door and batted at the straw playfully. His sharp teeth clamped down on it, chewing the end with fierce determination. _"I will eat you, you delicious plastic creature."_

After a brief moment of the kitten playing with the straw, the end mangled from the cat's teeth, Cassie withdrew it from the door. Earning a saddened mew from Jack who swiped his paws under the door, wanting his straw back. _"No come back... I'm hungry!"_

Jin's phone dinged again.

**Cassie: So are you gonna let me in or not?**

Kung Jin looked down at his lap, RJ releasing Hana to jump on the bed and settle into a ball on top of his pelvis. _"Protecting the realms is tiresome work. I rest now."_

**Kung Jin: Can't. I'm trapped.**

Cassie snorted in amusement on the other side of the door.

 **Cassie: Adorable, Jin. :) But, seriously kick them off and** **open this door right now.**

**Kung Jin: NO.**

A brief pause.

**Cassie: Then I'll rat you out.**

The Shaolin narrowed his eyes at the phone.

**Kung Jin: You wouldn't.**

**Cassie: Two words, "Kat"niss: DOG. PERSON.**

Kung Jin huffed, a string of curse words in his native language escaping in a heated, indecipherable grumble from his lips. Raiden Jr. picked up his head, his attention solely on Jin even as Lia fell off the bed, landing face first before brushing it off to romp with Hana around his room.

The white kitten glared at him. _"You defile the ears of the Elder Cats with your expletives, Kung Jin. I will hear no more foul words. Let our new comrade in before we are forced to find new homes."_

An angry raspberry blew out of Jin's lips before he reached over to pick up RJ from his lap. Giving the kitten a brief scratch behind its ears, he walked over to the door and opened it for Cassie. He frowned hard as soon as he saw her on the other side, but then felt the corner of his mouth pick up when he saw how much of hammered shit she looked like. Standing there with a Pedialyte and looking like she had gotten run over by a stampede of jungle animals.

Quickly, she stepped inside as the kittens started to bound for the open door. His room was still dark, and he smirked when he flicked on the lights and blared blinding light into Cage's sensitive eyes.

She cried out in a groan of pain, her eyes blinking with floundering discombobulation to adjust to the light of his room. "Fuck you, Jin."

Even the kittens and Jin had to adjust, all of them blinking as artificial light filled the room. Kung Jin looked down, noticed he was still in his underwear and went over to his suitcase to grab a pair of Special Forces issued gray sweatpants and a white shirt before Cassie could jab at him for it.

Instead, he wondered if she even cared at the moment, as all four kittens came to her. She looked down at them gathered at her feet, sipping on the now bitten end of the orange straw as they peered up at her.

Hana and Lia simply gazed up at her with tiny curiosity. TJ glared at her as if she was a vacuum salesman and Jack continued to bat at her toes with a single paw. The blonde kneeled down, giving the black cat her attention as it tapped on the strap of her flip-flop that ran on the outside of her foot.

"Awe, so you're the cocoa-bean that attacked my foot?"

The tiny panther crouched down and wiggled its butt. _"Your foot... must..._ _ **DIE**_ _..."_

Jack pounced on her foot, bouncing off it like a rubber ball, before attacking the hem of her sweatpants, flipping on to its back and swinging its paws with fuzzy frenzy fury.

Cassie glanced over at Jin, to the white kitten in his hands, and then back to him with a pointed look, as she went to give Lia a pat. "So, you opted for the old-maid- crazy-cat-lady lifestyle instead of getting laid, I see?"

Kung Jin glowered at her, his eyes narrowed in annoyance, but said nothing. Cassie's hand went over to touch the orange tabby's head, and the cat squeaked indignantly at her, while pulling its head away from her hand. _"Do not touch me!"_ An orange paw swiped at her hand which she pulled away without any fear.

"Well, you sure are a persnickety little thing, huh gingersnap?" Cassie chuckled.

TJ glared hard at her. _"Next time I'll_ _ **break**_ _your fingers."_

Cassie peered at the Grandmaster kittens that sat quiet and content to the right of her, both of them staring up at her and blinking. Lia looked at her calico sibling with a perplexed countenance as she mewed. _"Who is this?"_

Hana narrowed her eyes minutely as her ears flicked back. _"An imbecile."_

"Like little peas in a pod aren't you two?" Cassie mused, observing how they seemed to stand the closest to each other while the other kittens coveted their own personal space. "Gotta name you both Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum."

It was the Lin Kuei kitten's turn to narrow its eyes at her. _"Yes. I see it now."_

Kung Jin gave the purring white kitten in his hands another passive scratch behind the ears. "Not that I don't agree with you—as much as it pains me to say it— but Takeda, Jacqui and your dad have already named them all."

Cassie placed a hand over her chest, letting out a faux shocked gasp at him. "You named them _without_ me?"

The archer smirked. "No, you were there. You were puking your guts out and drooling in your dads car. Not surprised you don't remember with you drinking like a fish."

Cassie sucked on her straw nosily, enough to send a clear message that she brushed off his words like they were nothing. After a moment, she sat back on her rear, crossing her legs and looked up to him with a grin. "So... what's the story, Robin Hood— no wait, more importantly what did you _name_ them?"

Kung Jin sighed, knowing that Cage wasn't going anywhere soon like he had hoped, and instead sat down across from her with RJ purring contently in his lap. Lia and Hana also came to their keeper, clambering over his legs to get to his lap as well. RJ looked at both of them and meowed in annoyance.

_"Be gone from this lap. I have claimed it first."_

Lia settled next to the white kitten much to the tiny Thunder God's displeasure. _"We will not sit on an imbecile's lap."_

TJ squeaked at the three of them. _"You_ _ **are**_ _sitting on an imbecile's lap."_

Hana meanwhile curled into a ball, sandwiching the white kitten between her and Lia. _"I miss my chugin. I even miss his traitorous harlot lady."_

RJ booped the calico on the head hard. _"Do not speak such foul ways of Jacqueline Briggs."_

Hana gave a minuscule growl at the white kitten before Lia came over, climbing over RJ and sat next to her sister. Resting her head on the outside of the calico's neck, she purred. _"Be calm, sister. Be as cool as ice and know if he boops you again, I will avenge you."_

RJ ignored them, closing its eyes in contentment.

Cassie plucked up the black kitten, who despite being viciously attacked by her foot earlier, allowed Cage to hold him; all forgiven. The blonde scratched behind the back of the kitten's ears, and the panther responded by leaning its head back into her nails and purring almost immediately. Cassie let out a small laugh when he leaned back so far he stumbled and fell before he resumed its spot on her lap.

TJ in the meantime went over towards where Jin had discarded their cat items, his eyes locked on the mouse on the string that Jasper had bought for them.

_"You're all stupid. I'm gonna go play with my mouse."_

"Well... you gonna tell me or not?" Cassie asked with playful impatience.

Jin frowned. "Takeda named most of them."

Cassie laughed. "Of course he did."

The Shaolin started with the two inseparable kittens in his lap. "Lia and Hana."

Cassie gave an expected nod, another breathy chuckle escaping her. "Let me guess... after Sub-Zero and Scorpion?"

Kung Jin raised his brows at her. "How'd you know?"

The sergeant yawned in boredom, "Cause its Takeda, that's why. He is such a precious nerd and I love it."

"Alright, smart-ass. What are the others named?" the archer challenged.

Cage took a sip of her Pedialyte while still petting Jack, her eyes squinting at the white cat in his lap. As soon as it blinked its blue eyes at her, she smiled with the straw in her mouth and answered: "Fujin Jr."

"Close but no dice," Kung Jin shrugged. "Raiden Jr."

Cassie clicked her tongue. "Ugh. I was gonna guess that first, but I thought you weren't going with the obvious approach. That _has_ to be another Tacky picked name."

Suddenly, a mechanical squeak came from the corner of the room as TJ finally pulled the mouse from the bag, dragging the stick with it. The orange tabby rolled on its back, bringing the mouse to his mouth and back-kicked the toy with mighty baby fury. The toy let out a series of quick-strained chirps as TJ held it by its head and kicked relentlessly.

 _"Die fake annoying rodent!"_ TJ looked over at Kung Jin and Cassie for a moment and gave a quick hiss at him. " _You're next, Shaolin Duck."_

The kitten went back to kicking the mouse, the air filled now with the sounds of the toy mouse being attacked relentlessly by a small tiger.

"TJ," Jin sighed. "I named that one."

"Tiny Jin?" Cassie sniggered.

The archer narrowed his eyes at her humorous jab at him. "Tiny Jerk. I was thinking of _you_ when I named him."

Cassie rolled her eyes. "And the little espresso bean attacking my fingers?"

Jack continued to gnaw on her, bored of her petting him and instead opting to chew on her digits that she allowed. " _They taste of grape juice and regret."_

"That one is Jack. Jacqui named him after her zombie dad," the ex-thief informed.

Cage frowned hard at him; like Jacqui, Cassie always hated when Jin referred to Jax by his ex-revenant state. After she allowed it to pass, choosing not to comment, she eyed the jaguar with a skeptical eyebrow. "Really? I mean I get it but, why not like baby Kotal or something Aztec-related since he likes to attack and bite everything like a little panther?"

Kung Jin groaned. "Takeda tried to name him that too."

Cassie snorted, "Did he try and name _all_ of them?"

Kung Jin sighed. "Just about."

"Well I'm sure that they have a no pet policy at the Shirai Ryu," Cassie jested. "Psychic Boy is probably fucking stoked he can have pets vicariously through you."

The thief frowned. "He's been more hyper than usual."

Abruptly, an invisible lightbulb went over her head, as she picked up the black cat under the pits and brought him to her face. "Well, Takeda and Jacqui can't take _every_ name. I know what we'll call you. How 'bout little Ko-Ko. Are you my little cocoa bean?"

"No."

Cassie baby-babbled at the black cat. "Who's my wittle Ko-Ko bean?"

"Stop."

Jack growled in her hold. _"Release me or I'll bite you. I will not be able to stop myself."_

Cassie flipped the cat towards the Shaolin, still holding the kitten by the arms as she balanced it on its tip-toes and grabbed one of its arms. "I want a rematch scholarly Earthrealmer. I will not be made a mockery of," she said, deepening her voice and mimicking Kotal. She puppeteered the kitten, waving its paw at him. "I am Kahn of Outworld and you will bow before me or I'll send Rooty-Tooty-Shooty after you."

Jack growled low, its eyes slanted in distemper. _"You. Were._ _ **Warned**_ _..."_

The black kitten suddenly leaned its head back, its head shaking from side to side as its mouth opened to reveal its teeth like a rattlesnake about to strike. Its green eyes went wide, impossibly and comically wide, before it sunk them into the top of her wrist. Cassie giggled, amused that the kitten had to power up just to give her a harmless bite in the end.

The baby jaguar mewed, releasing her and licking the spot where he bit her. _"I am sorry. But you left me no choice. I would see a doctor. I may have left permanent damage."_

Kung Jin and Cassie suddenly heard the familiar and irritating sound of the toy mouse coming closer to them. They turned to see TJ carrying the now disheveled mouse in his mouth with the stick dragging behind him. With a fierce tiny glower, he placed the gray toy at the Shaolin's foot, presenting its kill and then sat back on his haunches to look at Jin dead in the eye with a miniature malignant visage.

 _"You see that?_ "— TJ batted the relatively intact toy mouse to him. In fact, the only thing that he had done was get its artificial fur matted from his kitten spit— " _That's how_ _ **bad**_ _I'm gonna mess you up one day, punk."_

Cassie smirked. "I don't care what you call him, his name is Tiny Jin."

"Whatever," was the archer's dismissive reply.

"I will say," Cassie piped up, catching Jin's attention. "I'm not surprised that your more of a crazy cat lady, but, I know there's gotta be a good story behind all this. So, feel free to spill it, now."

Jin yawned. "Can I tell it another time? I'm wiped out. These little shits kept me up all night."

"Awe," Cassie cooed mockingly. "Did the wittle baby fluffy-buns keep the big bad archer up _ALL NIGHT_?"

"I'll tell it to you later, ok?" Jin huffed. "I ain't telling it now and there's nothing that's gonna make me _not_ go back to bed."

Suddenly, he heard a frantic staccato of knocking come from his door, and the thief frowned indignantly knowing who it was. Cassie raised her eyebrows at the hyper pace of Takahashi's frantic knocking while Jin shook his head at his friend. He knew how taken with the cats he was, and frankly Kung Jin was surprised he waited this long to come see them again.

"Jin? You awake?" Takeda came from the other side. More fast-paced knocking. "Jin? Are you up? Jin?" More knocking.

Cassie placed a fist in front of her mouth, her face nearly red as she fought back to keep her laughter mute at the ninja's innocent persistence. He was like a toddler asking if his parents were up yet.

The Shaolin sighed, knowing Takeda wasn't going anywhere, and feeling like the unwilling host of a house party he had no knowledge of until the guests showed up. Kung Jin pressed the pads of his fingers against his forehead, rubbing them in a circle as he fought a headache. "Its unlocked, Takeda."

He barely finished his sentence before the Shirai Ryu opened the door, walking in with his sleepy girlfriend—both of them in sweatpants and white shirts—before shutting it behind them; the specialist rubbing her eyes.

Takeda, if he was tired, didn't show it as his eyes immediately locked on to Hana sleeping on the archer's lap. The calico woke, saw Takeda and immediately got up, arched its back while it stretched and yawned, before she bounded over to him as eagerly as the ninja did. The telepath picked her up, cupping her weight against his chest and went to sit next to his Shaolin friend. The mixed color cat purred, closing its eyes as she fell back asleep.

"Well, we know which one is your favorite, Keanu Jr." Cassie quirked, the corner of her lip lifting into a smile.

"Huh?" Takeda muttered, his eyes lifting to look across from him, before he looked back down at the calico. "Oh, hi Cassie. Didn't see you there."

Jacqui pinched the bridge of her nose, exasperation filling her as Cassie laughed at him and said: "You're like a five-year-old on Christmas morning who can't wait to open his presents."

"Mmhmm," was all Takeda responded, as if not hearing Cage; his eyes still on the sleeping Hana.

Jacqui raised an eyebrow at Cassie's disheveled state as her eyes drifted from her to the drink in her hand. "Told you to slow down," she teased to the hungover blonde.

"Eh, I could still go another round with Shinnok," Cassie shrugged sipping on the straw again. The orange kitten walked over to Jacqui and squeaked at her. The specialist looked down at the kitten and rose her eyebrows at him; as if expecting the cat to say something that warranted her attention.

_"I will tolerate you. Sit down so I may have a lap to snuggle in."_

Jacqui smirked before she took her place by Cassie. As soon as she crossed her legs, the tiny tiger climbed into her lap and put himself into a ball, cuddling into her lap. _"I am_ _ **not**_ _cuddling. I am using you for warmth. You are still a stinky hooman and I hate you."_

With the black kitten in her lap, finally still, Cassie huffed impatiently, looking between all three of them. "So is _someone_ gonna tell me what happened?"

Even though Cassie had directed the question to Jin, it was Takeda who was eager to tell the sergeant about their late-night adventure with the kittens, and much to Kung Jin's displeasure, he didn't skimp on the details.

The ninja mentioned everything.

Starting with how they caught him in Jasper's car. Kung Jin had noticed the ghost of a smile on Cassie's face at the mention of the pet store clerk, and it had been the only time he had piped in to tell her to 'shut up' despite the blonde didn't utter a single word. All the while, Jacqui had her eyes closed, looking as if she had fallen asleep with her chin resting in her palm and her elbow propped against her knee.

All five kittens had fallen sound asleep by the time the ninja got to Johnny Cage's involvement in their ordeal. Takeda then relayed their clandestine hop over the fence before running into Kenshi. And of course, how they nearly got caught by the General.

Surprisingly, Cassie stayed relatively quiet throughout the story, but even if she did want to pipe up, Takeda didn't seem to allow her an opening to do so. He rattled without a reprieve until he got to the very end. In fact, out of the entire tale, Cassie only asked one thing as soon as they got to the end.

"So, when do I get to meet Jin's new boyfriend?"

The Shaolin bridged his eyebrows hard at her, his eyes narrowed. "He's _not_ my boyfriend."

"Liar, liar pants on fire," Cassie sang mockingly back, winking at him.

"Are your earphones in or are you just too hungover and missed the part where we _didn't_ get along?"

"Well, even if you don't like him, he obviously likes you," Cassie teased, petting the sleeping black cat in her lap. "Why else would anyone give _you_ a ride? Maybe you should return the favor and give him a ride back, if you get what I'm throwing down."

"Oh… I _get_ what you're throwing down, all right," Jin seethed. "How 'bout I pick it up and ram it down your throat?"

"Maybe you can ram it down _his_ throat next time you see him, Cupid," Cassie snickered suggestively, wiggling her eyebrows at him.

Jacqui woke up as his fist tightened, Jin about to bark out an insult, before she stopped the both of them.

"Children, behave," Jacqui sighed with a tired monotone.

The blonde grinned at the Shaolin's hard stare, but eventually, they let it go as Takeda suddenly voiced their sudden dilemma.

"Uhhh… I was going to use the bathroom… guess not anymore," he confessed sheepishly, looking down at the unconscious precious calico.

Jacqui eyed her boyfriend with exhausted exasperation before her eyes landed on the tiger, also asleep in a fuzzy ball. "I _was_ hoping to go back to bed."

"I gotta pee too," Cassie sighed, Jack on his back with his tummy and legs in the air also dead asleep. "Pedialyte is kinda running through me."

Kung Jin looked down at Lia and Raiden Jr. Both kittens piled on top of each other on his lap and aching, full bladder.

The four combatants had faced countless foes, ones that included an Aztec God with a hodge-podge collection for an entourage, but the ones that made them finally yield, was five little kittens on each of them. Sound asleep and with no intent on moving anytime soon.

The Kombat Kids were trapped.

Takeda looked between all of them, frowning with confusion before asking. "Now what?"

* * *

 **A/N:** Thanks to _Tommy Boy_ and _Finding Nemo_ for providing some inspiration for this chapter. Also for that hilarious cat gif of the black cat powering up his bite that I've seen all over the inter-webs. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, thanks for stopping by, leave a comment letting me know what you thought, and like always see you next chapter.


	8. Chapter 8

**  
****Chapter 8** _**  
****"What's New Pussycat?"** _

* * *

There were certain things nobody ever told you before partaking in the taxing, but sometimes, rewarding woes that parenthood offered. For instance, there was one simple understanding that transcended all barriers, that no matter the species.

All babies were messy and tiring.

While some infants in the wild had to adapt quickly — or die — Jin's kittens had the luxury of being pampered; not tied down at all by thoughts that a predator might be hunting them if they caught scent, or facing the prospect of dying in the middle of the night due to cold or hunger. Jin had faced all those scenarios in his younger days, so in the Shaolin's opinion, all five of the cats were all ungrateful little brats.

Cute… but still ungrateful.

They simply had no clue how _well_ they had it, especially with Kung Jin taking care of their every need while they repaid him by tormenting him by not letting him sleep.

That was another thing nobody told him and eventually found out, from both the internet and through experience.

That cats were, unfortunately for him, _nocturnal._

If he had known that before adopting them, he would have invested in a coffee maker for his room. He opted for another kitchen appliance though, understanding they needed it more than he needed caffeine.

In his first couple weeks, after reading up a little more about their habits, he stole a blender (one fancier than what was required) so he could blend their formula and hard food for them. They needed the gruel at least three times a day and boy were they a ravenous little bunch. And often, on top of keeping them fed, he had to also make sure that none of them ate anything that wasn't _food_ in his room small enough to swallow but big enough to choke on.

But there was a trophy to his efforts, and he was happy to see their little tummies grow fatter as the days continued on. They often rewarded him with baby snuggles and licks, and even he had to admit, the toy mouse could get a few chuckles out of him with how awkwardly they failed to chase it. However, the scale was still tipped against him, and they did more things that were annoying instead of adorable.

Despite how pleased he was to see them bulking up and acclimating to him and the room, they still had other habits that drove him up the wall.

The biggest one was their never-ending, consistently _aggravating_ tendency to fling cat litter everywhere— covering every floored surface of his room with tiny gray sand instead of keeping it in the box it was intended to stay in. He was constantly sweeping, taking out a small dustpan and broom and collecting it just so he didn't find himself growing irritated stepping on it constantly; he lost track of how many times he brushed his hand against his feet to dust it off. It was harmless, just, _persistent_.

In addition to having a litter box in his room, the smell that all five little fuzzy sewage factories created between them using the same box was horrendous. He was constantly cleaning out the box despite that their feces were small— but boy were they pungent if left unchecked for a few days.

Jacqui had taken pity on him and had purchased Febreze plug-ins for him. Now there were three around the room — one in every wall outlet he could find. However, they did little to help. Now his room smelt like Hawaiian Breeze with a hint of cat poop; not the most tropical or welcomed of smells. So, he pushed himself to become more adamant about cleaning it, learning his lesson that he could not be so forgetful if he wanted to sleep without smelling the box.

And to top the cherry on top of his litterbox dilemma, TJ seemed to delight in Jin's torment with the cat box. As soon as Jin had finished cleaning it, the orange cat made it a constant routine to go back in the box, look the archer dead in the eye, and take another dump right in front of him. Then, to add insult, he flung litter everywhere, stepped out, and purred against the Shaolin's ankle.

" _You missed one, stupid hooman."_

Oh yea. The little orange asshole earned the name _Tiny Jerk._

However, despite the smell and trying to keep them alive, Kung Jin had to admit, there was something endearing about the now almost 7-week-old kittens. They slept with him almost every night on the bed —sleeping being a loose term with how sporadic their nap schedules were due to their high energy.

Whenever he did wake in the middle of the night—as he was doing at the very moment— he looked down at them all snuggled against him with a smile. They all seemed to trust him, and the archer dare say, were rather _fond_ of him. And despite how much the others had been teasing him, he reminded himself—and them— constantly, he was NOT going soft, and if he had any affection for them, he would take it to his grave. No one would know they were growing on him. Even if it was ten percent.

Jin didn't know what to do with such a misplaced sense of affection from them; it was so perplexing to have something depend and love him so willingly. He was just there to keep them alive until he figured out who he could pawn them off on. He was nothing but a warden, running a tiny prison in his room filled with five little inmates—although at times he felt less like the warden and more like one of the disgruntled guards having to herd and deal with them. Or perhaps better yet, he was one of the inmates himself, especially considering he was once again imprisoned on the bed with them laying on him.

They usually picked the same spots: TJ was almost always on his head and if not, curled against the junction in his shoulder.

Lia and Hana were always inseparable— as if a part of their own chain gang—and either settled between his legs or by his side; bunched together in a gray, white, black, and amber ball.

RJ remained his constant confidant (following him everywhere when it wasn't time for bed). The white kitten always nestled on top of him; either tucked under his chin or in a ball on top of his chest. Every so often, the fluffy Thunder God would wake, blink its blue eyes tiredly at him, give a series of quick kneads, lick him, and then fall back to sleep. As if it was telling him _'Rest now Kung Jin. You will need it for the upcoming storm.'_

Somewhere in the darkness, came the all too familiar sound of scampering tiny paws racing sporadically around his room; flying about with frenetic frenzy that caused the Shaolin to let out a tired sigh as he heard something fall off his desk nearby.

… And then there was Jack

A black shadow suddenly darted across his groin, earning a grunt from the archer, and at the same time waking all the kittens who meowed indignantly by both the archer moving suddenly and the energetic panther on another one of his midnight hunts.

The black cat lowered its front paws forward, its butt sticking in the air, as it brought its nose level to the sheet; its eyes widened to the size of jade colored plates as he searched.

 _"The bug! It's escaped again! The foul,_ _**crunchy** _ _fiend!"_

Jin's eyes picked up on a brief flutter of movement above his face, tiny and nearly invisible if not for his keen eyesight.

A single white moth flew above his head as Jack sauntered over to Jin, stepping on RJ in the process, as it sat on the archer's chest. Jack balanced on its back legs and swiped with its front paws in the air, squeaking with frustration.

" _Fiend! You finally show yourself! Bring your delicious self closer, coward! As soon as I get you, you're kitten chow!"_

The cat jumped in the air, flailing and spinning with the grace of a drunken figure skater, before it landed squarely on Kung Jin's sternum. He let out a groan and he suddenly felt TJ's orange paw rest on his nose and unsheathe its claws to hook inside the archer's nostrils, pulling them up into his nose like fishing hooks.

" _Stop_ _ **moving**_ _you STUPID Shaolin Duck. I am TRYING to sleep on your stupid, fat head."_

Kung Jin sucked his teeth before he lifted a single hand to unlatch the cat's paw from his nose, earning a tiny annoyed mew from the orange tabby while Raiden Jr., its blue eyes slanted at its obsidian haired brother, growled.

" _Go away. Your presence is causing great disturbance to both our master and the others."_

Jack simply regarded its sibling by blinking blankly back at him. _"But RJ….it crunchy... and full of protein... and it_ _ **crunchy**_ _. I must keep my strength up. I am a ferocious baby jaguar. I must consume my body weight in crunchy or else I will surely die."_

TJ squeaked above him. _"Then DIE so I can go back to sleep."_

Hana yawned while Lia licked the side of her litter-mate's face; causing the mixed-colored fur to stick up while one of the calico's eyes squinted in disdain at Jack. _"You're an idiot."_

Lia's face lifted from the calico, her head bobbing as her eyes locked on the moth flying silently overhead. _"It is... rather..._ _ **mesmerizing**_ _... the flappy, crunchy thing."_

Hana followed her sibling, also succumbing to the hypnotizing moth above their heads and watched along with the Lin Kuei kitten with acute curiosity. _"Yes... a fine target it would make for my kunai..."_ Hana growled suddenly. _"IF. I. HAD_ _ **.**_ _ONE!"_

Lia lifted and wiggled her butt, staring up, but still addressing the calico. _"We have claws_ — _they are like tiny kunais, but better, sister."_

Hana's eyes slit into thin lines, her paws suddenly flexing to reveal tiny razor-sharp claws, as she focused on the moth again.

 _"Yes... a fool I am. I have had kunais all this time!"_ Hana looked to Jack, squinting its eyes. _"But I am not as much of a fool as you are. The insect will be mine!"_

Jack, feeling its target at risk, hissed at the calico; the hair at the back of its neck spiking up. _"No, it is mine!"_

The calico returned a hiss. _"It is_ _ **mine**_ _!"_

Jack growled, making a move first, as they both launched at each other and tumble-weeded around on top of Jin like a child's ball rolling across the floor. Except this ball had hair, claws and teeth that would maul Shaolin hands as soon as he attempted to try and separate them. All Jin could do was just lay there in awkward annoyance as they used his body like a battleground.

A tired eye twitched. "Don't mind me— just trying to _sleep_!"

Lia, RJ and TJ also watched close by, observing them as if they were watching two seagulls fight over a soft pretzel.

TJ was the first to let out a sound; something close to a small grunt that caused the tiger to slump slightly against his head. _"Yes_. _Kill each other for my tiny amusement. Soon the mouse toy will be mine and mine alone…"_

Eventually they detached after a particularly loud yowl from Hana (Jack biting her scruff too hard) and ended their fight, but they continued to stare tiny daggers at each other; using Jin's body as a line in the sand.

 _"Attack me again and you will face kitten-hellfire!"_ Hana narrowed her eyes, snarling at the black cat as she placed a single paw on the archer's stomach. _"You poor, fatuous excuse for an Amazonian jaguar. You are no great warrior or hunter. Your very existence is an insult to panthers everywhere."_

Jack licked its paw, unfazed. _"Ya... well you and your kunai are_ **dumb.** _"_

Lia meowed indignantly in the black cats' direction as she came next to her calico sibling. _"How dare you insult Kitten Hanzo Hasashi and his tiny kunais. Now you will feel the cold chill of Lin Kuei Kitten justice!"_

Jack's pink tongue darted out, bleping at the two fuzzy Grandmaster's with indifference. " _Brrrr... I'm frozen in fear. Look-at-me-I'm-a_ - _little-hairy-baby-popsicle. I'm sooooo scared."_

Lia growled at the same time Hana hissed and swiped a paw. _"That does it! Get over he_ — _"_

The moth fluttered quietly between them, bouncing between them as if it was being bobbed on an invisible string... and suddenly all transgressions were forgotten.

RJ squeaked at the pair, noticing them being bewitched: _"No! Do not gaze upon it! It's tiny flapping is only equal to its depravity. It surely must be Quan Chi in disguise! Returned from the grave!"_

Jin heard a sound above him, coming directly from the mouth of the tabby that sat on his head. The tiger's blue eyes suddenly grew, its pupils blown wide as it also stared with stupefied interest at the bug.

The archer's eyebrows bridged together, an amused smile threatening to break across his face as the little orange jerk began to chatter; producing quick and light chirping sounds from its mouth. He knew what the sound attributed to from his research. Cats made it when they narrowed in on something to hunt that excited them. And TJ was certainly and completely enthralled by the moth; the cat lost to the hypnotizing flutter of wings. " _It's... so... beautiful... I must..._ _ **MURDER**_ _it..."_

The Shaolin looked down at his kittens, letting out a light guffaw as they all stared up and watched; their heads following the moth as if their eyes were incapable of making the slightest adjustments to follow it. All of them, with the exception of RJ, looked like fuzzy bobble-heads on a bumpy car ride.

The white cat, who noticed the Shaolin was also watching the moth dance overhead, mewed and came over to him; bump-rubbing his face against Jin's stubble before giving him a quick nip to his cheek. _"Do not succumb Kung Jin. The moth is a foul deceiver. It spews false promises of crunch but is acidic and spongy. I know this all too_ _well_." RJ hacked audibly and licked it's lips.

"Did you _have_ to bite me?" the archer grumbled, his tone condescending but playful.

RJ stared at him, its eyes blinking softly, as he sat on its haunches. _"It is a sign of affection. What the internet calls 'a love bite.' I am expressing my fondness towards you by what is in my nature."_

"I thought it was from over-stimulation. Petting you too much or whatever," Jin questioned the cat. Silently taking note of the other kittens still watching the moth; ignorant of the current conversation.

 _"Even I cannot control where the lightning may strike at times,_ " Raiden Jr. meowed. _"Sometimes, it strikes without warning and we must let it crash where it may."_

The white kitten gave a single swift lick, as if it was the period of a sentence, before it stared back at the Shaolin, letting the poetic nonsense sink in. RJ nipped at his cheek again, out of nowhere, making Jin frown.

" _Hence. I may bite you unprovoked."_

Kung Jin lifted one of his hands, giving the miniature Thunder God a scratch behind the ears. Immediately RJ purred, leaning back into the archer's fingernails, while Jin rolled his eyes, knowing that the cat didn't say any of what he was _hearing_.

"I am losing my mind," he scolded himself with a sigh. "Ow."

RJ's teeth pinched the skin on top of his hand, before he gave him a lick and rubbed against him.

_"That indeed was caused by over-stimulation. But I do prefer the term 'love bite', instead."_

A knock came at the door, and as soon as it landed, Jin let out a surprised 'shit' as all the cats — EVERY. SINGLE. ONE — got immediately spooked and clambered about the bed. All the cats randomly picked directions and raced quickly across the mattress as if they were bullets fired sporadically from a machine gun.

As soon as the second knock came, Kung Jin laid still in his bed. Frozen stiff as his eyes blinked with a startled, flabbergasted expression on his face; trying to decipher what the hell just happened and how kittens could even run that fast.

"Let's go Garfield, we got training this morning with Tacky's dad," came Cassie's voice from the other side of the door.

Kung Jin placed his palms over his face, running them down as a yawn escaped him. He had completely forgotten, and while usually looked forward to training, wasn't in the mood. He hadn't had a decent night sleep thanks to the five adorable little excuses, and simply lacked the energy nowadays.

Also, Kenshi wasn't as lax in his training like Johnny Cage was, so the archer grumbled irritably getting out of bed, knowing that the session was going to wipe him out.

Jin felt something brush against the back of his Achilles heel as he planted his bare feet to the floor; knowing it was one of the cats that had ducked under the bed.

Picking himself up, he crouched down and peered under the bed...

...and saw five sets of tiny beady eyes looking back at him; wide-eyed pupils filled with trepidation.

"You're all so brave, aren't you? Fuzzy little cowards," he ridiculed lightly.

Jin reached under the bed, attempting to reach one of his shoes, before RJ gave him another quick nip to the back of the palm when he got close.

"What was that for?" he shot at the white kitten.

RJ narrowed its tiny eyes in contempt. _"For your spiteful chatter, Kung Jin."_

"Whatever _."_

* * *

In the Mess Hall, after a particularly long and tiresome training session (though she never admit to it out loud) with Kenshi, Jacqui couldn't help but feel for Kung Jin as she stared at him across the table at lunch.

The Shaolin hadn't touched his food, even though he usually had no appetite for the Special Forces issued cafeteria grub, and instead fell asleep in his palm; his elbow braced against the table with his other hand lazily holding a fork with a half-bitten piece of broccoli in it.

Takeda held in his laughter as Jacqui also suppressed a smile when they watched a sliver of drool escape from his open mouth, before it landed right in his food. She honestly felt bad for the guy. Parenthood was no picnic and she recalled fondly of her dad telling her all sorts of horror stories about how she gave them hell as a baby and toddler. One of her favorites being him walking into her nursery the middle of the night, only to discover that she had somehow taken off her diaper and smeared baby poop all over the walls and giggled as if it was a divine art masterpiece.

A brief frown flickered across her face when she caught Takeda snorting at her, nearly spitting his drink through his nose, when he eavesdropped into her thoughts. He already knew about the story — Jax had told Takeda all kinds of embarrassing things (hoping to serve as a last-minute deterrent) after getting over the initial resentment of someone dating his daughter. He was more or so snickering over the mental image she had pictured, and she jabbed her elbow into his ribs as revenge for peeking.

Still, she understood his plight of how tiring it was to have a bunch of babies who were unsympathetic to sleep schedules; only caring about themselves. She had taken care of some newborn kittens from the barn after their mother had gotten hit by a car, so she knew the struggle of trying to keep them alive.

It was a 24/7 job. Jin was fortunate that they were older when he found them—she knew how hard it could be. But the specialist knew she didn't have to worry too much about him; the fact that he was so tired, told her enough that he was taking to his Mr. Mom role just fine, and the cats were going to be ok.

Now she just had to focus on Takeda not getting attached. Which was proving to be impossible since he was so enamored with them. It was endearing — pretty adorable — but it also felt like she was a stringent parent at an amusement park with a hyper child who wanted cotton candy every five seconds.

Even when he wasn't in Jin's room playing with them, the ninja obsessed over them. Currently, he stayed on his phone as they sat at the table, going through cat memes and every so often showing her the one that made him bust out laughing. Now she knew what her parents went through in regards to when toddlers showed their parents every little thing that made them laugh with the adults playing along with it, commenting only to say 'that's nice'.

Kung Jin let out a grunted inhale of breath, his lungs sucking in a patch of air before he smacked his lips in his sleep. Cassie shook her head next to him, her eyes on her phone, and with a grin she picked at his plate with her fork, stealing a cube of red jello.

Cassie on the other hand, was just happy that she had ammo to tease Jin with; taking every opportunity to call him a cat related pun that got under his skin. As her friend had reiterated to Jacqui, she liked them and thought they were cute, but she truly did prefer dogs to cats. If Kung Jin had a litter of puppies instead of kittens, then Jacqui could see Cassie in Jin's room more instead of Takeda. Although Briggs was sure Takeda would be hounding Jin no matter what species it was.

Jacqui's eyebrows suddenly picked up when she noticed Cassie's dad making his way towards their table. The usually cheerful actor scowled in the Shaolin's direction as he held an empty metal tray in his hands. Jin still slept, snoring loudly, even after Johnny came to the table and stopped by Jin — Cassie seated on the other side and finally looking up from her phone.

The actor gave the Shaolin an annoyed grimace before he curtly sat his tray next to Jin's — enough to produce a loud slam to wake him.

Jin roused, sucking in a line of drool back into his mouth, before he blinked awake.

"Where's my blender, Jin?" Johnny spat, not even waiting a minute before the Shaolin regained consciousness.

"Huh?"

Johnny huffed, waving his finger angrily through the air as if he was drawing the words out with a marker. "WHERE" — "ISSSS"— "MY"— " _BLENDER_?"

Kung Jin shrugged before he responded back with an innocent (yet, oh so not): "Beats me."

Cassie snorted, obviously loving to see her dad so annoyed by somebody that wasn't her.

"I know you're using it for the fluff-bags" Johnny accused, his hands on his hips as he narrowed his eyes at the Shaolin. "And as much as I like helping the kittens out, that is a nearly 600 dollar Vitamix and I don't wanna be tasting cat food when I go to use it for my shakes when you bring it back to me today."

"You spent 600 dollars on a blender?" Takeda asked, looking up from his phone too.

"Yes Takeda. I spend money so this"— Cage Sr. waved a finger through the air at himself, indicating his physique — "Stays 110% instead of the usual 100%."

"Can't say it was money well spent," Kung Jin barbed with a teasing grin. "Besides, I need it. They gotta eat."

"Not with my blen—!" Johnny's hands shot out but stopped in mid-air; his fingers curled towards the archer as if he wanted to strangle him. The actor turned red, his outburst suddenly catching the interest of other soldiers dining in the Mess Hall.

Cage Sr. grumbled, cursing under his breath, as he furiously fished into his back-pocket and pulled out his wallet. The Kombat Kids stared at him, smiling lightly as they heard the mumbled but heated phrase being stringently whispered through Johnny's teeth.

"Cute-stupid-little-kittens-they're-lucky-they're-cute-and-shit—"

The older man slammed a couple of hundred-dollar bills in front of the Shaolin, before he threw a finger at Jin. "Buy your own freakin' blender and give me back mine by tonight — washed!"

Kung Jin rolled his eyes and pocketed the bills while the actor marched away, not even bothering to tell Johnny thank you.

"I want change!" Cage called over his shoulder, throwing the tray on top of the garbage can before he left the Mess Hall.

Jacqui waited until Cassie's dad left before she raised an eyebrow in the Shaolin's direction. "Why are you using a blender? They're what, six or seven weeks now? You can give them wet food."

"How do you know?" Jin shrugged, finally eating the rest of his broccoli on his fork.

Briggs blinked at him, unphased by his scowl. "Cause I've taken care of kittens too. They don't need formula anymore.

"Awe… Mother Goose doesn't want them to grow up so he's still giving the baby fluffy-buns whittle baby formula," Cassie castigated at Jin, looking down at her phone again. "He wuvs them _bunches_ and wants them to stay kittehs forever so he can bottle feed them and sing them lullabies goodnight."

Jin shot the sergeant an indignant glare, but didn't comment, instead turning back to address Jacqui, "Haven't really had time to get off the base to get them wet food. Between Cage and Tack's dad trainings and making sure the brats don't swallow one of my shoelaces every five seconds."

Jacqui raised an eyebrow disbelievingly at him.

He tapped his pocket with his free hand. "Besides, I didn't have money till now. Spent most of it on their cat crap when I first got them."

Cassie smirked in Kung Jin's direction, choosing not to comment on how the archer swindled her father. "How is your boyfriend at the pet store by the way? You still haven't shown me a picture of him yet. You won't even tell me his last name so I can find his _Friendship's_ Profile."

Kung Jin scowled furiously and slammed a palm on the table, making the silverware jump. Jacqui couldn't really blame him. Outside of the cat puns, Cassie had been relentlessly teasing him about Jasper for the past couple weeks.

"For the last time —he's not my damn boyfriend, Cassie!"

A blonde-haired male captain, whose name-patch read _Denton_ , who happened to be walking by their table, stopped suddenly on his path to the trash-can, and blinked in confusion at Jin's outburst; held hostage by the abrupt, tense silenced that followed as if thinking they were referring to him when they all looked his direction.

Denton cleared his throat before responding awkwardly to them, looking at Jin specifically. "Well, I'm dating a guy right now in Comms, but I'll hit you up if things go south."

After that he excused himself, his eyes shifting back and forth as he walked hastily away.

Cassie snickered in her seat as the Shaolin sighed next to her. "Well if things don't pan out with the Petco guy, you still got Captain _Dents-Every-Vehicle-He-Drives_."

"Shut up, Cage," Kung Jin growled through his teeth, stabbing his fork into a carrot harder than what was necessary.

"Well, since you got nothing going on," Jacqui butted in smoothly, trying to alleviate the tense atmosphere. "You should really start feeding them wet food. They have to eat it eventually, so the earlier you start them the easier it will be to transition them."

The archer sighed through his nose, flicking leaves of his salad around the plate; her words sinking in that she was right despite how much he didn't want to admit it. "I don't have any way to get there. It's not like I have a car. And I don't want to leave them alone for too long."

"I can watch them while you get their stuff," Takeda suddenly offered, causing all three of them to look in his direction.

The younger Takahashi shrugged nonchalantly and smiled. "I know you've been tired. Why don't ya bunk in my room and I'll watch them tonight after you get their food? You have to admit, you do want the night off."

Jin smiled dubiously at him, blinking his bloodshot eyes at the ninja. "You just want an excuse to play with them some more."

"Yeah," the Shirai Ryu answered back unapologetically.

There was silence, as if they had expected the ninja to say more but didn't.

"Fine, whatever," Kung Jin finally granted.

"Yay," Takeda grinned as he shifted happily in his seat.

"I'll take you to the store, Jin," Jacqui offered, feeling more generous than usual, only because of one thing.

Her eyes shot to Cassie. "Some of us can't because they play on _Friendships_ too much and get behind on their paperwork."

"K. Thanks, Mom," Cassie barked back, typing away on her phone still and rolling her friend's comment off her shoulders as if it was nothing.

Cassie looked to Jin. "Car's in the shop anyway, so I'll have Jacqui snap a pic of your boyfriend so I can finally put a face to a name. Jasper and Jin. I like the sound of it. Like Bert and Ernie — they're secretly gay and in love too."

Kung Jin rolled his eyes at her, but then turned towards Briggs and nodded genuinely.

"That's actually nice of you. I _do_ need the ride," he looked down, grimacing bitterly, "and I know they can't eat gruel forever. So… thanks."

"You're welcome," Jacqui smirked, albeit the phrase sounding strange on her tongue when directed towards the archer. Funny, now that she realized why, was because Jin and her didn't really share much conversation with each other. And besides the thing with the cats, didn't show empathy outside of just being teammates. She had to say, it was an odd new change, and good way to finally turn over a new leaf between the two.

However, it was slightly ruined when Takeda suddenly laughed at his phone; tears nearly spilling out of his eyes. After a pause he showed the phone to Jacqui, still in a fit, and she looked down to see a video of a cat stealing pizza from someone's plate.

"Silly little guy," Takeda continued to chuckle, half talking to himself and half at Jacqui. "Pizza is _human_ food."

Jacqui sighed, too embarrassed by him to laugh, as she pinched the bridge of her nose, squeezing her eyes shut and muttering. "Ya. It's funny. That's nice."

" _Woooooow_ Takeda," Cassie sniggered. Shaking her head in humored disbelief at him. "You are _such_ a nerd."

"How're you my friend, again?" Kung Jin commented, running a hand down his face.

The Shirai Ryu ignored them, smiling as he smiled at a video of a cat playing the keyboard and dancing along lightly to the beat.

* * *

The drive to _The_ _Pet Stop_ was relatively quiet for the most part, but Jacqui already assumed there would be little to no discussion between her and the Shaolin anyway. Briggs could tell Jin reached the same conclusion on their drive. The bulk of his time spent in Jacqui's tan Jeep Wrangler consisted of him alternating flicking his eyes briefly over to her before gazing out the passenger side window. She couldn't remember the last time her and the archer were alone— come to think of it, it was safe to assume that this was the first time. Usually, they were both accompanied by someone, either Cassie or Takeda, and now that they were alone, found themselves in a bit of an awkward conundrum.

They hadn't the slightest clue of what to talk about.

It wasn't because they hated each other —they worked well together in a team ever since Outworld. But they just simply couldn't find a topic to break the ice. There was an appetite for conversation between the two, but both saw it as a requirement more than a need; like they couldn't leave the table unless all their vegetables were finished. They both wanted it though. Just something to fill the awkward void between them for the sake of pleasantries, but neither of them wanted to cave in just yet.

It was that way for the first five minutes, when Jin finally did say something.

"I really did need to get them wet food, so… yea… I needed this," he trailed off, the corner of his mouth flickering bitterly. She didn't take offense that he didn't end the sentence with a 'thanks' though she knew it was what died on the end of his tongue. Jacqui wondered if it was because he thought saying 'thank you' twice in one day was too much for the stubborn archer. Afterall, it was hard for the archer to express any of the mushy stuff.

"Can I ask you something Jin? In all seriousness?"

He turned to her, allowing her to continue, as she slowed the car to a stop, waiting in line at the red light.

"Why did you hold off on the food? Stealing Mr. Cage's blender and all?" she asked, looking at him. "You like to learn new things, so I know you've definitely been reading up on them."

She heard him give a quiet, almost undetectable sigh; his eyebrows furrowed in thought as he reached his hand to the cup holder and grabbed his Oolong tea in the thermos. His thumb traced over the metal green outside, mulling over how to answer her question.

"I just…" Jin sucked his teeth, taking a sip of his tea, before he resumed his usual stoic visage. "Wasn't really wanting to go back to the store… I was… kind of a jerk last time."

It wasn't the answer Jacqui was expecting. Besides Cassie relentlessly pestering the Shaolin about Jasper, the specialist would have assumed that the clerk would have fluttered away from Jin's mind; forgotten as soon as he had left them that night.

From what she observed on that now semi-legendary night they snuck the cats in, Jin had been unapologetic with his animosity towards the retail worker. Seeing him as nothing more than an asshole and Jasper returning the sentiment.

In fact, she'd never known Jin to really be sympathetic towards the way he treated others, good or bad, or give his actions retrospect. Though, she had to admit, the way he did treat Jasper after agreeing to help him with the kittens had been a bit harsh.

He was decent to them, friendly, and she sided with the clerk more than Jin.

Perhaps, with Cassie bringing him up constantly, Kung Jin started to realize just how abrasive he had been, and that he was in the wrong for his treatment.

Though she could tell it was difficult for him to even admit his mistake. He had just as much hubris as his late cousin, but even he had to admit, he was in the wrong even if he would never fully voice it; choosing to hide it under a blanket of vagueness.

"We can go to another pet store if you want," Jacqui threw out, although she hoped he would reject the listless offer. It was almost redundant to ask; she knew what the answer would be and so did he, but it was also her method of showing, she could be his friend too.

Jin tapped a finger on the outside of his thermos, looking out the window in thought, before he sighed and relented. "No. This one's closer. I don't want to drive 10 miles out of the way."

Jacqui gave him a small, respectful smile; she knew how hard it was for the stubborn Shaolin to take the high road. Even if he would never voice what was his goal in mind, preferring to be as clandestine as possible with his emotions.

"If that's what you want — still it's no problem to find another place," Briggs continued, the car moving as soon as the light turned green.

"It's fine," Jin furrowed his brow again, taking a noisy sip from his tea, before he consented reluctantly, his expression resolute but sour. "Let's just get this over with."

* * *

"Hi guys!"

Takeda shut the door quickly, avoiding detection from soldiers in the hallway and closing off the only escape route, as all five kittens roused from their sleep on the archer's bed; blinking tiredly as soon as they heard him.

He smiled but then wrinkled his nose when he caught a whiff of the overwhelming scent of Hawaiian Breeze from Jin's Febreze plug-ins. He knew that Jin was adamant about making sure that his room didn't stink, however, he would have to remind himself to tell his friend he was now overdoing it by making it smell _too_ nice. If it wasn't for the cat box in the bathroom, out of plain sight, he would have thought that Jin just really, _really_ loved the smell of artificial paradise too much.

The aroma was quickly forgotten though, when Hana was the first to stretch and yawn before scampering across the bed. The other four, simply meandered about, picking random directions to explore as they spilled sleep from their tired little bodies.

The calico jumped from the bed, bumbling a landing, before bouncing over to the Shirai Ryu who dropped his change of clothes and toothbrush to the floor, to scoop her up.

"Awe did you miss me? My cute little chugin?" Takeda asked Hana, bringing her to face level while the kitten mewed and swiped her paws at his nose, trying to catch it between her paws.

Lia also came over to him, stopping at his feet and squeaking up at him, gazing up despondently.

"Oh… " — Takeda let out a sheepish laugh — "I'm sorry Lia. I hope you're not too jealous that I have chosen Hana to be my apprentice? After all she is already kinda wearing Shirai Ryu colors, so I kinda have to, ya know? No hard feelings, right?"

 _Murrr_ the Lin Kuei kitten responded to him. Looking up at him with discontent; she was definitely jealous.

Takeda knelt towards the gray kitten, putting Hana down, before scratching behind her gray colored ears. "Sorry Lia, I like you too. And hey, our clans are ok with each other now, maybe I can still bring you in as an apprentice too if Kuai Liang ok's it."

Lia seemed to accept his suggestion and purred contentedly into his hand, her eyes closing and leaning into his palm as he continued to pet her.

Hana blinked, her eyes looking from Takeda to Lia before the calico snuck her head under the ninja's hand — head-butting and pushing Lia out of the way — to fit her forehead underneath Takeda's palm; purring obnoxious and loud for him. He couldn't help but smile as she forced him to pet her instead of its sister— blatantly stealing his affection away.

Lia growled at her sister before popping the calico hard on the butt with her paw and hissing in retaliation for taking Takeda away.

The calico hissed in return, turning its tiny rancor towards her gray sister, as the two narrowed their eyes at each other. Both of them on the verge of attacking each other...

"Hey, none of that," he said, grabbing each of them with a hand and standing up. They both swatted at each other in the ninja's hand, grabbing nothing but air as they wiggled about.

"Jin left me in charge for the night so we all need to be friends and have fun together!"

The orange tabby suddenly yacked, as if a bug flew into its throat, but Takeda continued addressing the two kittens in his hand. "That means no clan battles while I'm the boss."

The two kittens in his hands turned to him, almost as if they were heeding his order before they ceased and wiggled lightly in protest to being held; no longer discontent with each other.

RJ jumped from the bed and walked over to him, striding confidently towards the ninja before he sat both clan-kittens down to scamper away. The white cat sat back on his haunches, blinking stoically up at Takeda; as if the human was under assessment if he was up to the task of watching them.

"Don't worry," Takeda nodded. "I got this covered— if that's ok with you little Raiden?"

The white kitten simply grunted lightly at him and licked its lips, its tiny demeanor seemingly unconvinced.

A knock came at the door, causing Takeda to pause…

Huh. He had expected the night to go undisturbed.

As soon as another knock landed, he heard the kittens scratch against the floor as they took off — all of them rushing frantically to hide underneath the bed.

Takeda blinked, all of them gone in a second, and wondered how the hell they could even move so fast, before he heard his father's voice telepathically call to him: _"Are they so distracting that you have forgotten our customary session every Thursday night?"_

The younger telepath pressed his lips together, speaking back silently to his father on the other side of the door. _"How did you know where to find me?"_

" _It was not difficult to figure where you would be after you did not show up,"_ Kenshi informed. _"Your mind is so consumed with thoughts of cats I am surprised you have not started growing fur and a tail just so you can join them. I have to admit, I am a bit hurt that you had forgotten. Have I been so easily replaced?"_

" _Of course not,"_ Takeda reassured, his attention suddenly pulled away from the door when he felt something rub up against his ankle. Looking down, he saw Jack, the tiny panther, and the only one to venture out after the initial shock of hearing a scary intruder lurking at the door.

The ninja picked up the black cat, the kitten purring as soon as the human put him in the cradle of his arm on its back. With Jack's fat little tummy exposed to the air as if he was a human baby, the ninja wiggled a finger in the middle of one of it's paws and between the dark pads; causing its paw to flex and grapple its five razor sharp nails around Takeda's finger.

"Awww… they're like little shurikens," the Shirai Ryu chuckled at the kitten. The ninja gave the cat a faux-pained expression, his finger wiggling more as the claws dug in tighter to his finger. "Ah. You got me!"

" _Takeda."_

Takeda laughed, realizing he was unintentionally ignoring his father again. _"Sorry… just kind of happened. Kung Jin needed a break after today. And it's just, kinda hard not to say yes. Have you_ _ **seen**_ _their little toe beans?"_

" _Even if there wasn't a door between us, I still physically cannot. And I'm surprised. Kung Jin doesn't usually find my sessions so tiresome — he usually boasts he can be pushed further. I had just assumed his yawns today were to be further boastful."_

Takeda shrugged. _"Nah. You finally got him today. But you didn't hear it from me."_

Despite he couldn't see it, he knew that his father nodded from behind the door; pleased to hear of his subtle accomplishment.

An awkward pause drifted between the two sectioned rooms, neither of them relaying anything, until he heard his father cough lightly from behind the door.

"Are you going to invite me in?" Kenshi asked, the door slightly muffling his voice. "Or should I ask permission from the contraband first?"

The Shirai Ryu walked over towards the door, just as the kittens began to poke their heads out one by one from under the bed. Grabbing the handle, he opened it and told his father to come inside quickly; hearing voices in the hall from other soldiers passing by.

Dressed in his usual attire, Kenshi stepped inside the room as if there was no emergency. Instantly, the elder Takahashi's nose crinkled — assaulted by the Febreze plug-ins as well — before he quickly disregarded it and turned towards his son as the door shut with a click.

"I thought you didn't want to get involved?" Takeda asked, putting Jack down.

The jaguar was about to romp to the bathroom before it turned around and locked its green eyes on the ends of the red blindfold that draped down the older man's back. Jack crouched down, its butt in the air, and slowed his movements as he gradually put one paw in front of the other… stopped… and then proceeded closer by placing another foot forward.

"I still wish not to," Kenshi confirmed, ignoring the hunting feline he knew that was behind him; set up and stalking him like a tiger through tall grass. "But it seems you have grown quite attached to them — more so than their keeper. They are distractions, and being such, I thought they would also serve as a good tool for our session today."

"For meditating?" Takeda questioned, scratching a fingernail against the side of his temple.

The older man nodded, the movement causing Jack to leap forward and pounce at the red blindfold. However, he jumped nowhere _near_ the ends and instead bounced off Kenshi's calf and tumbled to the ground; the telepath acting as if nothing had happened while Takeda let out a chuckle.

"Your mind still meanders a bit during meditation, though you have improved," Kenshi informed. "So, I want to see if you can stay focused with them trying to pull your attention away."

Takeda scratched the back of his neck, shrugging. "Alright. That might be hard though — they do nothing _but_ pull your attention away. No offense, dad, but… they could even pull _your_ attention away."

The ghost of a smile graced the older man's face, instantly detecting the challenge hidden in Takeda's banal statement. "And if I prove that my attention cannot be deterred?"

The younger telepath clicked his tongue. "Same as always? The loser does the other's laundry for a week?"

The elder Takahashi simply nodded in agreement, taking his son up on their light-hearted bet. Challenging each other often served as a prosperous tool in helping them rekindle their lost years between each other. Mostly, it was used between sparring practices, but every now and then they engaged in silly little bets. Takeda thought it was a good thing, noticing that they careened more towards the fun gambles rather than the serious ones — although they still occurred more by technicality. Nevertheless, the more fun ones they did, he saw as progress.

"I hope you have enough laundry detergent, son," Kenshi smirked lightly. "I have been more focused on General Blade's assignments and rather lax with my laundry as of late."

The Shirai Ryu wasn't positive if what his father said was just a jab, or the truth, but regardless, he replied back with a laugh. "You're on."

* * *

As Jacqui and Kung Jin entered the pet store, the archer immediately began to look through the small collection of people that shopped around— trying to find a familiar face he couldn't locate and wasn't a hundred percent positive he even wanted to encounter again.

He blamed Cassie for the entire thing: the reason why he took the blender — stalling getting them wet food — as well as some of his sleepless nights, and also why he felt hesitant about being in the store now.

If she hadn't shut up about Jasper, he would have taken Brigg's suggestion and went to another store. However, because Cage hadn't stopped asking him about the clerk, and with a few inner dialogues with RJ about the matter, it inadvertently caused him to retrospect back to the night they had met.

Jin brought a hand up to rub the back of his neck, sighing as he spotted the familiar sign with the black and white cat hanging over the aisle.

He had been a jerk. A big one.

While Kung Jin could attribute his behavior to understandable excuses (he was tired, annoyed from dinner, and just anxious about being a new dad) Jasper hadn't really deserved his animosity. The guy had been helpful despite that he let Johnny Cage in on the affair. It was his only transgression though, but he also doubted that his fuzzy little secrets would have stayed hidden from the actor— Cassie would have eventually told her dad, and he would have found out anyway. He would never admit it, but it was almost a good thing Jasper did tell Johnny Cage. They couldn't have gotten them into the base without his help.

So, even though it would kill him doing so, Jin owed Jasper an apology. The guy hadn't deserved how he had treated him. He could have just closed the store instead of opening it after hours. The clerk also didn't have to drive him to the base and on top of it, helping out by going to the gas station. Jasper had been benevolent, and Jin had responded to his kindness like an ungrateful douche.

Although he was prideful, and usually would never admit his shortcomings, this one he couldn't sweep under the rug. Jin had been wrong and he knew it and if he ever wanted a decent night sleep again, he would have to find Jasper and make amends.

The archer frowned, still unable to spot him.

But where the hell was he?

"Why don't you go find him, and I'll go grab what you need?" Jacqui suggested, her palm held out and waiting for Jin to put Johnny's given cash to her.

The Shaolin gazed about, still not seeing him, and pulled the money from his jeans. "Alright. Thanks. I'll meet you in five by the car."

"Sounds good," Briggs acknowledged. Before she left, she gave him a sympathetic nod and said: "Good luck."

He didn't reply back but tugged the corner of his mouth to the side. He was going to need it. It should have been simple: just go up to him and say sorry. However, he felt strangely… anxious about it? Why? It was just a guy. Another guy among the hundred other mundane ones in the world.

He assessed eventually that it was simply because he just had a hard time admitting his wrongs, it was rare for him to do so — to anyone mundane or otherwise. Jin was content with that, knowing it couldn't be anything other than that, before he picked the aisle opposite the cat one — one with a Golden Retriever puppy plaque hanging overhead.

He had never taken note of the store before, the only places he had explored were the register and the cat aisle. He had never had any reason to come into a pet store before, so he assumed they were just all boring in design; something of a grocery store just with nothing for humans.

So, it took him back when he came across a large reception area adjacent to a large room filled with different breeds of dogs running around behind a glass wall. He could barely hear the dogs through the glass, surprisingly soundproof, as they ran and chased each other; bouncing off various multi-colored playground equipment more suitable for human toddlers than dogs. All of the items, from chewed up dog toys, to the old pieces of furniture scratched up by canine claws and teeth, all looked like donated items; put to good use for the dogs. He only knew a few breeds, some more identifiable than others, but there was certainly an assortment that he wouldn't expect to see play with each other.

By the room, the desk was surprisingly empty, nothing of note about the reception area except a sign that said 'dog daycare check-in' in big white letters against an evergreen colored backdrop.

Seeing as Jasper wasn't there, he was about to leave, before he caught sight of a rather large yellow labrador on a worn, black leather couch; sulking because it couldn't move because it was cornered against the arm-rest of the couch by a rather fluffy Saint Bernard puppy with pink bows on each ear.

The archer let out a small chuckle, the puppy barking at the older dog wanting attention that it didn't seem eager to give. The yellow lab looked in his direction, its ears pulled back, as the puppy tried to jump on the couch but couldn't do anything but balance on its hind legs.

" _Please save me. I'll be your friend forever."_

The larger dog looked for an escape route, hysterically scared out of its mind, but couldn't find one, until he spotted Jasper finally in the room. The clerk came towards the Saint Bernard, a pink leash in his hand, and smiled and shooed the pup away — the older yellow dog leaping from the couch as soon as its path to freedom was clear.

Jasper didn't seem to notice him watching, so Jin approached closer as the clerk spoke indecipherably to the Saint Bernard; playfully scolding her that she had trapped the other dog on the couch. The puppy barked at him, looking up with indescribable loving affection, as the female dog wagged its tail so hard the Shaolin thought it was going to fly off.

Jasper still didn't seem to sense he was there, not even when Jin leaned on the glass and watched as the puppy rolled on its back, exposing her belly to the air. The clerk smiled and got on his knees. He rubbed the dog's stomach with his palms, each swipe producing a bark and kick from the dog as he cooed at it. Despite that he couldn't hear him, Jin could still read the words coming from his mouth.

" _Did you have fun?"_

_Bark._

" _Did you miss me?"_

_Bark bark._

The clerk teetered her playfully back and forth on her back like she was a rolling pin; making the puppy kick its back paws at him.

" _Did you miiiiiissss me, Molly?"_

_Bark!_

Jasper laughed, the sound mute, as he finally clicked the metal clasp to her pink collar and stood up. The puppy rolled over back to its feet and followed him at his heels as they went to the door of the room.

Kung Jin swallowed, all of a sudden feeling as if he was put on the spot, as the clerk exited the door — the overpowering sound of barking issuing from the room briefly before he closed it behind him.

The puppy was the first to spot him, Jasper sarcastically baby-babbling to the dog at his feet, before his eyes came up and landed on Jin.

The pet store employee frowned instantly, his once cheerful mirth gone as soon as he laid eyes on him, and it only made more guilt stab at Jin; his own face falling into discontent.

"Oh… It's you," was all Jasper could greet him with; his eyes sharp as he moved to step around him with the dog in tow. Wanting absolutely nothing to do with the Shaolin.

Kung Jin cleared his throat uncomfortably, choosing to bite down a sarcastic remark to throw back at him; it would have been wrong to do so, considering how unenthusiastic he was at seeing him already.

The archer turned with him towards the same direction, the clerk catching the movement out of the corner of his eye but still marching away from him.

"Hey, wait a second," Jin called out, walking behind him to catch up. The Saint Bernard all the while trotted behind its owner while shifting happy glances back and forth between them, completely oblivious to its master's abrupt sour mood.

"Why? I'm not on the clock anymore and you don't have a box of cats this time," was all Jasper shot back over his shoulder, throwing his words like blunt rocks at him.

"That's _why_ I want to talk to you!" the archer retorted.

"Why? You get tired of them already?"

The Shaolin's brows furrowed into a hard line in agitation before he grabbed him by the shoulder to get him to stop. "Will you just hold up a second so I can say sorry?"

Jasper sighed with annoyance but did stop as soon as he felt his hand. Turning back to him, still with the same unwelcome demeanor towards Jin, he blinked as the Shaolin pulled his hand back.

"You want to say _what_?"

The archer shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose with his fingers. Gods, he couldn't even remember the last time he even apologized to someone. It was so strange for him to do so; to spew words to someone that contradicted his proud nature. He had a speech ready to go, one he had rehearsed in the car, for when he saw him, but it vanished from his mind frustratingly instantly. Leaving him to flounder and spout the first thing that came to mind…

"Look… this ain't easy for me to admit, but… you helped me out a lot that night with them. And… I was… well… damn it… I was… "

"An asshole?" Jasper finished, his eyebrow lifting before it met the other to form a blunt judgmental line. "Yeah. A bit."

The monk lowered his head, sighing in embarrassment as an awkward mute tension filled the space between them. Meanwhile, the Saint Bernard sat on its hind legs, looking back and forth between the pair of humans in silence. The Shaolin rubbed the back of his neck with his palm, looking up to meet him in the eyes and finally pushing down his pride, one that was always on display as a mask, and pulled it away just this once.

"I'm sorry… "

Jin's eyes lowered to the floor, looking at the dog, but he could feel Jasper's eyes on him as his admission sunk in; debating internally whether he wanted to accept it or not. It didn't matter what he was considering; Kung Jin felt his cheeks grow hot instantly from embarrassment and tried to walk by him, just to get out of the humiliating situation he had put himself into. Of course he wasn't going to accept it. What was he expecting? This was such a waste of time.

"This was dumb. I'm an idiot," Jin grumbled irately to himself, moving past Jasper, but stopped when he felt the clerk's hand on his chest.

"Hey, wait. We're good," Jasper insisted gently. "We're ok. I _was_ pretty annoyed with you, and… I can tell it took a lot for you to even say anything, so umm… yeah. Thanks for saying _something_."

The archer's shoulders sunk, a silent sigh of relief exiting out, as he looked up at the clerk. He honestly didn't know what to say; he had expected a dourer result putting himself out there. It was what had always panned out in the past.

It seemed Jasper was the unexpected exception to the rule. Jin was pleasantly surprised, and appreciative that Jasper was as selflessly perceptive as he was; he could have simply brushed off the lame apology — because it _was_ weak at best — but the clerk disregarded his own feelings in the brief moment and, instead, focused on Jin's own hesitation.

Thus, allowing them to come to a better result. Jasper seemed to understand Jin used his hubris as a shield and lowering it just for the slightest bit, was a gesture not to be taken lightly. It was… _nice_ for someone to see Jin's subtle and appreciate his attempt to step out of his comfort zone — because the instances he did were as rare as gold. And it took a sharp and knowledgeable eye to catch it. Jin wasn't expecting the clerk to be adept enough to spot it but was grateful that his try wasn't for nothing.

The Shaolin suddenly felt two giant puppy paws brace against the tops of his thighs, and he looked down to see the dark mask of the Saint Bernard peer up at him with kind reverence. The corner of his mouth tugged briefly in a smirk, his eyes travelling over the tongue hanging out of its smiling mouth to the little pink bows on each ear. She was a cute little thing, and like her owner, full of instant acceptance towards him after he apologized.

" _Hello. I do not know you, but I love you. Give me treats."_

"Sorry, Molly down. You know better," Jasper scolded, placing his hands on the back of the puppy's back to lower her.

"No, its ok," Jin avowed lightly. He bent down into a crouch, one of his hands presented out to let the dog sniff. Instead, the puppy tilted its head as one of its sasquatch-like paws batted at the Shaolin, before she came over and gave his fingers a quick lick.

"She's still young," Jasper said, as if he felt the need to make an excuse. "11 weeks. Got her last week."

"So you just put her in the room with the others while you work?" Jin asked, connecting it easily.

"Yeah. Owner's my aunt, which is why I can get away with it for free," the clerk acknowledged. "As long as I let my aunt put the bows on her."

Jin smiled, feeling a bit more at ease, as his eyes met Jasper's; his hands scratching behind the dog's ears. "You get free stuff? Sounds nice."

Jasper gave a light snort. "I wish. I just do this part-time to help out and for extra cash in between gigs."

The archer raised a brow, standing upright. He was taken aback; he had figured he worked full-time: "What do you do?"

"Violinist," he answered. "Although things have been slow between bookings, so I may have to go full-time here— lucky me. But anyway, I'd rather talk about the cats. How have they been? I was thinking about those little shits the other day."

Jin gave a soft laugh, amused by the ironically affectionate way Jasper had called them 'little shits'. It was pretty accurate and Jin had used the same collective moniker for them dozens of times. It seemed they could both agree on something and it helped the reticent archer relax towards the other man.

"Driving me crazy," the archer rolled his eyes. "They never let me sleep."

Jasper gave a side-smile, looking down at the dog by his feet. "She never lets me either. It's like having a hyper small child. It'll get better. What are you planning on doing with them after they reach the 8-week mark?"

Jin pulled the corner of his mouth to the side. In all honesty, he hadn't the slightest clue. He had been holding off looking into adoption plans once they did reach the age where they could be given away. He thought about hanging on to them for a bit, until after he got them accustomed to wet food, and it seemed like the most appropriate solution for the time being. After that, he had no idea. He had been too distracted and tired to think that far ahead.

Jasper nodded at him, silently understanding the archer had no answer to his question. "We have a cat adoption program here. We make sure they find forever homes," Jasper nodded over to his pocket. "If you got a phone, I'll give you my number and you can give me a ring when you're ready."

Jin swallowed; the benevolent offer was unexpected, and he wasn't sure how to feel about it. He kept going out of his way for him and it was not something the usually independent monk was used to.

"Oh… um ok. Sure. But, you don't have to get involved again. You're off the clock."

The clerk gave a shrug with a single shoulder, his smile amiable. "I was last time too, and that didn't stop me. It's not a big deal. Besides, I like those kittens. I want to make sure they get taken care of."

The archer blinked, hesitating slightly, as he reached into his pocket for his phone and unlocked it before handing it over to the clerk. Jasper gave a brief 'thanks' before he started to plug away at the screen, all the while with the puppy staring between him and his owner.

For the faintest moment, Jin could have sworn he saw Jasper's eyes blink rapidly as his Adam's apple bobbed up and down, but he had to have been hallucinating. Why would he seem nervous? What was there to be nervous about — it was just inputting numbers into a phone.

The puppy barked at him, catching Jin's attention, and he raised his eyebrows at the Saint Bernard as if waiting for her to say something.

" _My human is a good human. He takes me for walks and feeds me kibbles and gives me the best belly rubs. You will like my human. He is a good human and I love you."_

Jin gazed back at the clerk, who seemed to be double-checking — and triple-checking — to make sure that he had put the right number in the phone. Jasper gave a quick scratch of his chin before he cleared his throat and said: "Here you go. I put my number and the store number— just in case. Call me or text me if you got cat questions, or, umm, about whatever."

Jasper swallowed noticeably as soon as the last bit of his sentence trailed off, his brown coffee colored eyes looking down at the phone quickly and then back to Jin's, before he handed the phone over.

The Shaolin cleared his own throat, licking his bottom lip, as he looked down at the new contact information Jasper had put into the cell. Jin gave an amused smirk at the contact name Jasper had picked out: "Guy at the Pet Store." It was funny, if it was Jin putting the name into the phone, he could have seen him putting in the same designation for Jasper. It was the second time, Jin realized, they thought alike.

"Well, umm, it was nice catching up," Jasper piped up suddenly, his fingers fidgeting with the pink leash in his palm suddenly. "I gotta go. So, see you around I guess?"

Jin nodded, feeling warmth spread through his cheeks (but why though?). "I'll a… let you know if I got questions."

"Great. Cool. Yeah. Sweet. Just whatever little anything you wanna know. I'm pretty handy—" the clerk replied, stepping backwards — and almost running into a cardboard stand with dog toys on it for display. Jasper rolled his eyes, a frown creasing on his face meant for himself; it was a hard-pressed line and comical, causing the Shaolin to give a light smirk.

"There's a display there," Jin sarcastically pointed out.

Jasper's eyes shifted from the stand and the back to Jin with quick flickers before Jasper cleared his throat. "Yeah. I know… I put it there the other day"— the clerk tugged lightly on the leash—" C'mon Molly. Let's go home."

However, much to what seemed to be in the clerk's expense, the Saint Bernard suddenly flopped on the ground, resting its dead weight against the white tile floor of the pet store.

Jasper sighed and gave a quick tug on the leash again. "Molly please, not again. You're killing me."

The Saint Bernard puppy gave him a grunt, resting its head between its oversized paws.

" _I am a tired pupper. I will sleep here next to the new human."_

Jasper let out an annoyed scoff, the leash going slack, as he walked over and picked up the dog; carrying her as if she was a giant sack of groceries.

"You are the biggest useless baby ever," Jasper scolded, heaving the puppy's weight into his arms. The puppy hung limp in the clerk's arms, its giant head resting over his shoulder, as the retail worker gave him a tiny departing wave before heading towards the door.

"See ya."

The Shaolin nodded back, saying a quick, strained goodbye as he looked down at the phone again…

Not sure how he was supposed to feel with a new name and number in the device.

* * *

It certainly wasn't one of Kenshi's best ideas, and his ancestors also seemed to convey the same sentiment.

It was hard enough to concentrate on not being distracted by the voices from Sento during his other meditation sessions, but now it was made even harder when the telepath underestimated the endearing annoyances determined to get his attention.

Takeda, on the other hand, seemed perfectly content kneeled next to him, because of the simple fact that he was more accustomed to them.

Kenshi, on the other hand, was not.

It played against the older swordsman, having only met the kittens briefly once, because as soon as he kneeled, and proceeded with their session, the cats were determined to get to know the older man better.

It began with tiny distractions: the cats simply meowing and rubbing against his sides to get his attention. When they failed, they turned to more aggressive approaches…

He stayed resolute regardless and ignored them, as he closed his eyes behind the blindfold and drifted harmoniously away from his current state of being. Quieting his mind, letting its solace transport him out of the room, away from current transgressions, and offering a peaceful reprieve. Silence was a gift, and each chance to partake in it was a valuable and needed embrace…

_Squeak._

At least it would be if there was also _silence_ in the room.

_Squeak._

_Ignore it._ Kenshi instructed himself firmly.

_Squeak-Squeak-Squeak-Squeak-Squeak._

The orange tabby, a short distance away from them batted at a small toy mouse on a string, before the tiger pounced; rolling it and kicking it about to create more mechanical chirps from the toy.

Very… VERY annoyingly so…

_Squeak-Squeak-Squeak-Squeak-Squeak-Squeak-Squeak-Squeak-Squeak-Squeak Squeak-Squeak-Squeak-Squeak-Squeak-Squeak-Squeak-Squeak-Squeak-Squeak!_

One of the two kittens draped across the front of his shoulders and collarbones — one for each shoulder — lifted its head (Lia if he remembered her name correctly) gave a soft meow towards its sibling.

They had stayed situated like wet washcloths across his shoulders for the past half-hour, with no intention of moving from their perch. Far from it, they were more than pleased with laying and sleeping across the man's shoulders as if he was a tree branch to lounge in.

The other kitten on his shoulder, named after Raiden, also lifted its head, but instead of mewing in the direction of its orange litter-mate, stood until it was balanced on its haunches on the man's shoulder like a parrot.

The kitten's whiskers tickled the outside of the man's face, brushing lightly along his beard and cheek softer than the fluttering of butterfly wings…

And then he felt a curt bite from the white kitten as it nipped at the skin of his cheek.

Ow.

 _They are just animals._ came a voice from Sento.

His ancestor was right. That was they were. Just infant animals doing what they did best at: being adorable nuisances. It would take much more than that to distract him. Kenshi exhaled deeply out his nose, as if forcing his worries to be carried out from his body on the air as he resumed… falling back into a deeper trance…

The black cat and the calico yowled loudly in front of him, rolling in a tight tumbleweed of voracious kicks, bites and noise; both of them locked in an intense bout of play-fighting.

The elder telepath let out a shallow sigh, staying as reticent as he could, though he detected the small smile that barely ghosted across Takeda's features; his son knowing that the kittens were starting to chisel down his patience. However, the younger Takahashi said nothing, but the silence carried Takeda's message anyway: _'What's_ _ **wrong**_ _, dad? Are they too_ _ **distracting**_ _?'_

No. The ancestor from Sento that had spoken previously was still very much correct. They were just animals; their charming, fluffy appeal and annoying tendencies were nothing.

Kenshi heard the sound of scraping growing closer to his position, the stick of the toy mouse being dragged along the floor as the tiger carried the mouse in its mouth. A frown enveloped over his face when he detected the orange tabby bringing it to his feet; sitting back and dropping the toy from its mouth with a quick 'squeak' as soon as it landed.

The swordsman sensed the azure eyes of the orange cat staring up at him, and in retaliation to his unresponsiveness, the kitten meowed at him. Kenshi ignored it. He would remain as adamantine and as cool as marble…

_Mew!_

He acted as if he heard nothing; the kitten's adorable little self in front of him was non-existent.

_MEW!_

' _You will not distract me…'_

_MeEeEeEwWwWw!_

' _I will not cave in.'_

Lia picked herself up, sniffed the inside of his ear, and then sneezed into it; causing him to flinch.

The older Takahashi sighed again, deeper and again through his nose this time.

How many more minutes did they have left?

 _Fourteen minutes._ A voice from the katana informed him as he felt the tabby crawl its way onto his lap and continue to meow with indignant squeaks at him; still determined to catch his attention.

The telepath's shoulders hunched down, the finish line nearly in sight. He could withhold his irritancy for another few minutes. Afterall, he had gone through worse in his lifetime. He would not give in first. _He_ was supposed to be the mentor, the guiding hand, and he would not forfeit the title just because of five kittens distracting him…

Kenshi distinguished the faintest flapping pushing air along the room and he located the source rather easily: a single white moth danced about the room over them and glided down, landing softly on top of the man's dark hair…

' _Oh no…'_

All five cat's eyes locked on him at once, the calico and panther stopping mid-fight to saunter closer to him. Lia and Raiden Jr. looked up from his shoulders, the older man immediately sensing their rigid body posture as their eyes locked on target. The orange kitten stood on its back legs, already digging its claws into the front of his leather attire and scaling up him.

A tense moment clung in the air with nothing happening for the longest time. Nothing happening except for them staring at him from various angles with the man unfortunately in the center as if he was nothing but the piece of furniture holding a single morsel between five starving entities…

Leaving Kenshi with nothing to do but wait for the inevitable…

The moth flapped its wings lightly and they all sprung at once.

It was chaos— nothing but meows, yowls; claws and teeth attacking a very disgruntled human who just happened to be in the middle. The man mumbling curses and pulling cats from his body as they clung and swiped at the moth on him.

Kenshi lost.

Fair and square.

And left Kung Jin's room 30 seconds later.

Takeda opened his eyes as soon as the door closed, a victorious smile on his face as he scratched behind Jack's ears—the black kitten chewing and eating the moth with the same mirrored gloat as the younger Takahashi.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave kudos and comments or I'll blare the Tom Jones' song on repeat from a boombox outside of your window at ungodly hours of the night. ಠﭛಠ
> 
> Kidding of course. Thanks for stopping by. :)


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have been traumatized by the 2019 live action musical about the horny dancing sleep paralysis demons covered in lion pubes so now I’m taking you all down with me. Enjoy. :D

** Chapter 9 **

**  
Medley for Kombat Cats: Part 1**

* * *

**Sonya: The Old Gumbie Cat**

_...She is deeply concerned with the ways of the mice_

_Their behaviour's not good and their manners not nice_

* * *

Sonya smelled a rat— and she wasn't referring to the fur-covered vermin infestation that she heard complaints about. Mice were the least of her problems now.

Somebody had contraband in her base. Sonya _knew_ they did. Someone _close_ to her, too. Usually it didn’t bother her; she had other commanders below her that handled dishing out the appropriate discipline needed if something was discovered during random barrack checks. 

This time was different: it was affecting her directly, and it was enough to piss her off—enough to personally see who was disobeying her orders.

The General had her suspects, but the question was: which one was it?

At the top of her list, of course, were the ones she knew best: Johnny and Cassie. Throughout their entire marriage, she had known her ex-husband and daughter to break the rules, and while they were similar in character, the father and daughter pair still had differences when it came to their pranks. 

All of Cassie's schemes were a careful balance between annoying in the moment but something they could laugh about later in retrospect. Johnny was unapologetically a clown, even now, being a late bloomer when it came to maturity, he was still hard-pressed to stifle the over-the-top nonsense; although it _was_ slightly less irksome in his fifties than when she had first met him. After their rough patch, it was endearing, again, but only marginally, and her patience for it was usually determined by her mood that day.

But when they schemed _together_ , however, she always suffered more than she should. 

As she did now… 

Blade popped another Benadryl into her mouth, swallowing it with a generous amount of water from the glass before balancing it on the edge of her bathroom sink. She grimaced at her puffy swollen eyes in the mirror; red and teary eyed while her fingernails scratched against her forearm at the small collection of hives that formed on her skin. 

Unbeknownst to most of her staff, only knowledge to her own family, the General did have a weakness besides her commitment to her duty (besides her aversion to papercuts).

She got allergies _bad_. 

Spring was always her most dreaded time of the year in that regard, but there was one allergy worse than her seasonal one that reared its ugly head and could only give her the aggravated symptoms she had now…

Cats. 

Something that Johnny and Cassie find it difficult to introduce clandestinely to the General.

If it _was_ them, as she suspected it to be, then Sonya would be sure they _fully_ understood the extent of her contempt for their jokes.

However, the General still wasn’t completely positive they both had anything to do with her current state. 

Where would they even get a cat? 

She had been in Johnny’s room in the past few weeks, and she certainly never noticed anything _feline_ romping around. Cassie also didn’t have anything in her room, and she knew the sergeant cared for cats as much as Sonya did. The women didn’t hate them, just preferred another species. If Cassie was to sneak anything into the base, a dog would have been her first choice. 

Sonya, despite being miserable and groggy from both the allergies and Benadryl, smiled fondly at the memory of both Johnny and her daughter sneaking in a golden retriever puppy behind her back once upon a time. She hadn’t been happy at first, but eventually ended up not caring in the end. Sonya had been too busy with work to even remember they had a dog until she came home and was greeted by it. 

However, it didn’t mean she didn’t suspect them any less, but by her reasoning, it made her think of the only other two suspects left.

Takeda and Kung Jin. 

Jacqui was never on her mind, but if it _was_ Takeda, then she was guilty by association. They were a couple, Briggs would know.

It was the boys if it wasn’t her family. 

Despite having her attention diverted to the absurdly active workload she had on a daily basis being General of the Special Forces, she had picked up on slight differences between the Shirai Ryu and the Shaolin over the past couple of weeks. Tiny things, unimportant things, but noticeable, nonetheless. 

Takeda, to put it lightly, seemed giddier than usual. While light-hearted, she had noticed an increase in his optimism. He was also more on his phone more than usual, and when she had passed by him after a training session with Kenshi, she noticed he was watching a cat video and chuckling before putting it away out of respect when he finally noticed her. It was innocent, but she had never seen him watch a cat video as long as she had known him. 

Kung Jin was another anomaly. She had never seen the archer so tired, and it reminded Sonya of her first few months with a newborn Cassie from the hospital and how sleep-deprived Johnny and Sonya had been. Other than that, he was his usual self, as was his ninja friend, but there was also another thing they both unknowingly shared that made her question their innocence. 

Every time she passed by either Jin or Takahashi— together, or one or the other— she sneezed, and her allergies flared up. Sonya hadn’t even known she had been doing it until the last few days until she had them all gathered around a meeting room with Secretary Blake. Everybody had noticed her reaction too, as well as her current physical disarray; Sonya could _not_ stop sneezing that entire meeting but had endured and refused to excuse herself. And despite the uncomfortable dishevelment she was in, had noticed her team regarding her with a bewildering hesitation that caused her to consider there was something else going on that was other than regular allergies. 

Around the table, she had picked up on all of their moods: Jacqui had let out a glum sigh and had shifted her gaze elsewhere but at the General; as if regretting that she was withholding information that she wanted to tell but couldn’t. Takeda also looked about the room at everything but at Sonya, appearing like a toddler who had stolen a cookie from the jar. Kung Jin had kept his eyes forward, blinking them tiredly, but had swallowed hard and nervously. Cassie and Johnny on the other hand, held in their amusement in silence and glanced at each other with knowing, devious looks. 

She looked at herself in the mirror, sucking her teeth bitterly at her reflection, when she considered the last suspicion she had.

They were all guilty. 

They _had_ to be. 

They were all in on it, and which one of them was hiding the cat…

Now all that was left, was trying to smoke out which one had it in their room… 

_THWAP!_

The General’s head snapped the second she heard the metallic trap in the corner of the bathroom. Dead inside was a single brown mouse with its neck snapped under the bar. 

And she had the perfect reason for a barracks check… 

After dressing back into her uniform, albeit still with puffy-eyes and sneezing, the General exited out of her office and immediately ran into a passing male body that let out a small grunt when he impacted with her.

The soldier, dressed in Special Forces fatigues and with a name-patch that read Corporal ‘Walters’, immediately stiffed and saluted, offering his apologies, his voice smooth and baritone. Sonya, who only took note of him enough to sponge up a brief physical appearance of him (tall, Caucasian, muscular with equally masculine facial features and sandy combed hair and blue eyes) simply nodded at him and said:” As you were” before passing by him; heading towards the rooms of the culprits she wished to investigate. 

Walters, who waited until General Blade was out of sight, raised an eyebrow and headed towards the Special Forces’ commander’s door. He gave a haughty but brief chuckle before he jiggled the handle — testing it— before pushing himself into her room.

The soldier, who was anything but, had to admit this had been easier than he thought. In fact, the only troublesome thing was finding a uniform that fit. 

Reaching inside the jacket fatigues, he pulled out what he came to Earthrealm with and walked over to the General’s desk. He took quick note of it, glancing from the tidy paperwork, small trinkets, the blinking computer, and then glaring minutely at the framed picture of Sergeant Cage with her father, the buffoon/actor. 

‘Walters’ still thought all this was a waste of time, but… a job was a job, and the Kahn was paying him good for this one. 

So, he placed the rolled-up papyrus on her office desk and retreated, cognizant of making sure he didn’t overstay his welcome in the metallic slate and modern-esque military office. 

He grabbed the handle and shut it behind him, closing it as if nothing had ever happened…

Now the only course of action was avoiding those two annoying telepaths that would no doubt give him away… 

Getting in had always been the easy part… it was getting out that was going to be the challenge.

* * *

_You may meet him in a by-street_

_You may see him in the square_

_But when a crime's discovered then Macavity's not there!_

* * *

**Johnny and Cassie: Mungojerrie And Rumpelteazer**

_Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer have a wonderful way of working together._

* * *

“I think mom is starting to catch on,” Cassie piped up, chewing on a Swedish Fish she plucked from the bag in her palm. She glanced down when she felt something tap her foot and caught the sight of Johnny’s Roomba, which Cassie named ‘Jeffery’, retreating away; the large googly-eyes glued to the vacuum bouncing with every movement. 

Johnny swiveled in his chair, addressing his daughter that leaned against the open doorway to his assigned room in the base. The corner of Cassie’s mouth tugged to the side as the older Cage sucked a freshly made protein drink the color of the vomit from _The Exorcist_ , and from Johnny’s sudden reaction following his first sip through a silver metallic straw, probably tasted about the same. 

The actor’s lips pulled away, his face twisting in disgust as he let out an audible ‘ack’ and smacked his lips. 

“Lawn trimmings not agreeing with you?” Cassie quipped, smirking as she eyeballed the blender on his desk before throwing a stale gummy fish in the path for ‘Jeffrey’ the googly-eyed vacuum to pick up.

“I can handle the wheat-grass and fresh ginger— what I can’t do is wheat-grass, ginger _and_ cat food all together,” Johnny grumbled, placing the silver cup on his desk; his stomach audibly growling.

“I swear I’m ‘snip-snipping’ Kat-niss’s pony-tail in his sleep one of these days,” the actor vowed, imitating two of his fingers to resemble scissors cutting.

“Figure the cat food would improve it,” Cassie snickered, “Just give it a couple more passes in the dishwasher — should be fine, eventually.”

“Hah,” Johnny scoffed in amusement. “I caught that _eventually_. Besides, the taste is burned into my medulla oblongata for eternity now. But what were you sayin’ before, kiddo? I was lost in the gross green sauce.”

“Mom. Her allergies are hitting her bad.”

“Well, that was the plan.” 

Cassie frowned, chucking a Swedish fish towards him which he caught with a hand before plopping into his mouth. 

“I think you took it too far,” the sergeant insisted. “It's not even close to spring. Mom was gonna put two and two together.” 

Johnny shrugged. “I’m surprised it took her _this_ long. No need to sweat. She’ll come in here, look for Jin’s kittens and then go on her way. It’s always _moi_ she suspects of shenanigans anyways.”

Cassie bit the inside of her cheek. “She was kinda eyeballing us all weird— Jin and Takeda mostly,” she disagreed, her teeth tugging apart another red fish. “I don’t think she thinks it's _just_ us. I sure as hell don’t want a cat in my room, so she knows it's for sure not me. So… I think we should let Jin on the random-but-not-so-random barracks check she’s definitely got planned for all of us. Take them on a holiday. Fuck knows the cats could use the time away from Mr. Arrow up his Ass, anyway. Its animal cruelty not to.”

The older Cage lifted a skeptical eyebrow at his daughter. “And here I thought you didn’t like Jin? Now you wanna help him?”

“It's a love/hate with Legolas,” Cassie corrected. “Besides… I don’t hate the fluffy-buns. They are kind of growing on me — mostly because of how much they torture Jin.”

Johnny laughed, scratching the back of his neck, as he eyed his fouled blender that still had the essence of _pate de feline_ that he knew would never disappear no matter how much he would wash the expensive blender. 

“Do you want to get him back for the blender, Dr. Evil?” Cassie piped up suddenly, a diabolical and tempting thought coming to mind as she eyeballed one of his many movie posters hanging over his desk. About cats, she knew there was only one movie that he had mentioned in the past that Johnny Cage had passed up and luckily so… 

_“My flicks only come in boom and awesome and that film had neither of those very, important things. Also, they gave it to Jason Derulo. Their loss. I can stop myself from yelling my name in every song.”_

It was too bad he had passed up on _Cats_ , Cassie would have loved to have brought it up as ammunition just as much as her Dad would have loved to have used it as embarrassment towards her as a kid. She’d never have friends after they heard about it and he wouldn’t have had a career afterwards, so it was beneficial for everyone that the only _cats_ Johnny said yes to were Kung Jin’s.

“What do you have in mind Mini Me?”

The corner of her lips curved into a smile before she rolled up her empty plastic bag, sans Swedish Fish, and then chucked the crinkled ball at Jeffrey.

“Movie night… the kind we like and know Jin will hate.”

Before Johnny could answer, the bag bounced harmlessly off the robot vacuum, plopping on the ground next to it. The sensors picked up on the new garbage littered on the floor and meandered towards the source —the black plastic pupils of the goodly-eyes swinging side to side wildly— before it wheeled towards the bag. The vacuum sucked up the plastic bag, overloaded it, let out a mechanical grind before it stopped in its tracks, ceased vacuuming, and let out an audible error beep. 

Johnny frowned while Cassie chuckled.

“Why are you always so mean to Jeffery?”

Cassie smirked. “Cause he’s an idiot.”

* * *

**Kung Jin and the Kittens: The Rum Tug Tugger**

_My disobliging ways are a matter of habit_

* * *

By the Elder Gods, why was this a thing? The Shaolin just wanted one moment— just one— to himself where the kittens were not involved in something he was doing. He liked them, he truly did (always admitted to himself in secret and protested out loud) but they nearly 8-week-old cats were now starting to push their cute little luck now. 

“Please… all of you go away…” 

They mewed at him, all of them at once, before explicitly and purposefully ignoring his pleas for the twelfth time in the past ten minutes.

They were assholes. Oblivious, adorable, little assholes.

Kung Jin glowered down at all of them from the porcelain throne; the point of his elbow pressed into the top of his thigh as he rested his chin in his palm and tapped a single irate finger against the side of his cheek. Meanwhile, the kittens continued to either stare at him, knocked things off the sink counter next him (thanks RJ), or in Jack’s case, felt it necessary to join him and squatted in the litterbox across from him with his beady little eyes looking at him the entire time… 

Why… 

Kung Jin blew a stringent, single puff of air from his nostrils… 

Why in all the realms was _THIS_ a thing??

The Shaolin monk, who had been trained in patience, threw his hands in the air in frustration at all five fuzzy annoyances.

“Why can’t you all let me take a _shit_ in privacy—for once?!” he scolded them through his teeth, his voice bouncing lightly off the walls of the white, tiled bathroom.

They all stared at him blankly, as if completely oblivious _they_ were the source of what they deemed an unnecessary outburst from Jin, before going about and resuming their chosen activities. 

RJ, who was perched on the bathroom sink counter next to him, lightly tapped the toothpaste bottle and watched it fall to the ground. It joined the toothbrush, numerous amounts of q-tips, a shaving razor and a yellow hair tie that TJ stole and was occupied with currently.

“Are you done, stupid?” Jin questioned, raising an eyebrow at the white kitten.

RJ looked at him, giving him the same dumb, blank stare, the others had as well in the bathroom; as if they all turned into complete, aloof idiots as soon as they passed the threshold.

 _“You forgot to brush your teeth, Kung Jin.”_ RJ squeaked, looking at him and blinking its azure eyes. _“The Elder Gods do not often express enough the benefits of good dental hygiene for Earthrealm warriors. So therefore, it is my task to remind you.”_

Raiden Jr. looked down at the square, white container of dental string, considered for a moment, before knocking it off the counter. _“Also, do not forget to floss.”_

Jin sighed, picking up the tube of toothpaste and other victims of the Thunder Kitten’s onslaught, before flinging them inside the sink-bowl the same time Lia jumped up to sit on one of his exposed thighs, resting back on her haunches and licking the top of his hand before giving it a ‘love bite’. 

_“Feel and shiver in fear of my frost- **bite** , Kung Jin. A gift courtesy of the Grand-Kitten of the Lin Kuei.”_

She bit him again, her teeth refusing to detach and instead alternated opening and closing her jaw on the pinched skin from the top of his hand she had between her teeth.

The archer huffed, looking down at his pants currently around his ankles where the Shirai Ryu kitten was tucked inside his bunched-up underwear and pants, using it as a cat bed. 

He rolled his eyes.

No. 

_Of course,_ they weren’t going anywhere. 

They never did. They were shadows.

It was as if they actively and collectively sought ways to pester him. As if they had one hive mind and schemed and plotted against him. He had a theory that they all met secretly under his bed, all of them huddled in a circle while they all discussed mischievous plots on what to do to their _selfless_ and _caring_ and _compassionate_ human the next day. 

Jin could understand most of those cute little-shits’ schemes, but why… _why_ in all the realms, did they feel it necessary to join him in the bathroom while he sat on the toilet, taking care of personal business. He didn’t watch them in the litterbox and he wanted the same courtesy in return.

What was so interesting about it to them? Did they really have nothing else better to do? No kitten taxes to fill out or anything? They couldn’t take the time to screw around in his room and take the opportunity to touch the shit he didn’t like them messing with? They couldn’t mess with his bow, his arrows, engage in one of their little kitten brawls, or even stare blankly at the wall while he was _preoccupied_? 

No. That would be too _kind_ of them to leave him alone.

TJ, who was chasing one of the yellow leather bands he used to tie his hair with, bounced around and slipped around the tiled floor before he pounced and captured the leather ribbon between his teeth. The kitten brought it to his mouth, flipping over onto its back and kicking the slender fabric voraciously for a few moments. 

“That doesn’t belong to you,” the Shaolin monk castigated from the toilet. 

The tiger flipped back over to his paws, sauntered over to him, and gave Jin a tiny glare before he dumped it at his feet; the only damage done to it being a few indentations from teeth on top of being wet with kitten spit.

The orange tabby sat back and meowed at him, batting the ribbon lightly with one of his front paws.

 _“Try putting your hair in a pony-tail **NOW** , Shaolin-Duck!”_ TJ lifted from his spot, strutting around the bathroom with pride with its tail up straight. _“You can’t_ — _because I have **killed** your precious, girly yellow ribbon. Enjoy your tangled hair you dumb, stinky hooman.”_

“Thanks,” he shot back at the orange cat before picking up the band and placing it on the sink counter. Raiden Jr. stared at it for 5.3 seconds before batting it to the ground with a single paw.

The Shaolin’s eyebrow lifted up, his attention abruptly fixed on the jaguar sitting across from him, also taking care of business. For now, Jack sat on his back haunches staring at him, his tiny little body tensing as he had an uncomfortable bowel movement pass through him that was accompanied by the small waft of kitten poop hitting the air.

The panther gave a tiny mew, looking at him, as he placed a single outstretched front paw on top of the ledge of the litter box. _“It's ok Kung Jin… we will get through this together.”_

Lia also placed a paw on the outside of his forearm, as if to console him as well. 

“Leave me _aloooone,_ ” Kung Jin griped, his tone pleading yet annoyed, as his eyes twisted shut. 

Unfortunately, instead of receiving less company, a knock at his door signaled he was about to receive even more. 

His eyes shot to his barrack’s door, the bathroom door slightly ajar enough he could watch as the doorknob rattled from where he sat. It was locked thankfully, but that didn’t stop Cassie from being annoying. 

“Yo Siegfried and Roy, we gotta talk about your tigers,” came the sergeant from the other side of the door, before she turned and wiggled the doorknob overzealously; just to be purposely irritating. 

“I’m kinda _busy_!” Jin called at the door. 

“Well hurry up— it’s important!” the blonde retorted. 

“He’s in the bathroom Cassie, chill out," he heard Takeda inform her from the other side of the door. 

The archer gave a flippant annoyed scoff at the door, his eyes widening in annoyance. “Thanks, _alot_ , Takeda!”

“You’re welcome,” came his friend's sarcastic retort. 

Cage Sr. laughed at the same time Kung Jin grumbled, finishing his business, before removing a tired Hana from his pants and quickly before flushing the toilet. The Shaolin made a move for the door before he felt a tiny set of claws latch on to the side of his long-sleeve white shirt. Glancing down, he raised an eyebrow at the miniature Thunder God that looked up at him.

 _“Kung Jin, you forgot to wash your hands,”_ the kitten meowed, blinking softly at him. The archer sighed before he turned, pumped the hand soap into his palms, cleaned and rinsed quickly, before drying his now germ-free hands on his jean pants. 

An orange flash darted in front of him, nearly tripping him as the Shaolin stumbled around trying to avoid the tiny tiger that shot across the room for seemingly no reason. 

“Watch it, jerk,” Jin reprimanded as the tabby jumped on the bed. “Are you _trying_ to kill me?”

TJ’s eyes slanted at him contemptuously. _“Perhaps...”_

Jin said nothing, walking to the door as the other kittens romped from the bathroom to join their master in the room as he opened the door. He cracked it open, just enough to poke his head through and raised an eyebrow at the four people that he had outside his door. 

“What?” he questioned.

Jacqui let out a sigh, at the same time Cassie replied: “We gotta talk about your fluff-balls.“

“Why? You’re all not here to play with them?” Kung Jin asked, throwing a suspicious eye in Takeda’s direction who shrugged innocently in return. 

“Well, _that,_ ” Cage Sr. joked lightly. “And we gotta talk about them all of a suddenly being on the most endangered species list.”

Kung Jin furrowed his eyebrows. “What’re you talking about?”

Before he could get an answer out, he felt something fluffy try and squeeze its way through his legs and out the door. He squished his ankles together, entrapping Lia who was trying to wiggle out between his legs and into the hallway. She squirmed and protested, her claws scratching lightly against the tiled floor as she mewed. The Lin Kuei kitten grappled the side of the door, using it as leverage to pull herself out of Jin’s legs and try to escape. 

_“Freedom! I have acquired freedom!_ _Do not fret, fellow siblings! I will return with help_ — _”_

Jacqui plucked up the kitten, who squirmed and caterwauled indignantly at the specialist. _“Foiled! I have been captured. I will try and break free, brother and sisters!”_

Lia gave a weak bite to the top of Jacqui’s hand as Briggs gave a half-amused smirk. Lia released her hand and put its ears back as it stared at the human holding her. “ _Your tolerance for pain is commendable, Jacqueline Briggs. Very well, you win this battle.”_

Hearing approaching footsteps come down the hall, Jin relented and opened the door wider for them all to come inside. Hana scampered to the door as everybody filed into the monk’s room, and before the calico could escape, Kung Jin grabbed the kitten under its tummy with one hand and lifted her into the air.

The archer brought the kitten up to face level, staring at it eye to eye. “Nice try.”

The amber and black cat swiped its paws at Kung Jin’s nose. _“Curse you, wretched Shaolin hooman! May all your arrows fly crooked!”_

Hana booped Jin on the nose softly. _“There. You are cursed. **Permanently.** There is no hope of redemption.”_

As soon as the door was closed, the archer handed off the Shirai Ryu kitten to its favorite person, who in turned, made it no secret Hana was his favorite. 

Takeda held the kitten against his chest, her front paws dangling over his shoulder as he smiled and said: “Hello my little chugin. Did you miss me?”

Hana sniffed the inside of his ear before biting his lobe with a quick nip. Takeda chuckled, grimacing slightly in pain. “That wasn’t very nice, Hana. Don’t make me have you clean the Fire Gardens with a toothbrush.”

“Oh my god, Takeda…” Cassie snickered.

 _“I am a warrior, Master Takeda-san. I apologize. I cannot contain the fire within, sometimes,”_ Hana meowed. 

Takeda instantly let out a loud, nasally snort while looking at Jin before telepathically relaying: _“Really, Jin? **Takeda-san**? I’m flattered. And you know I can hear all the conversations between you and the cats, right?”_

Kung Jin looked at his friend, sucking his teeth and quietly thinking back—knowing Takeda was eavesdropping. _“I thought you respected my privacy not to snoop.”_

Takeda shrugged, scratching behind Hana’s ears with his free hand. _“Don’t worry, I won’t tell. It’s kinda adorable. Especially with how much you say you **aren’t** attached to them. Still, it's too bad I can’t audio-record others’ thoughts.”_

Kung Jin narrowed his eyes; challenging his friend. _“Shut up before I tell Jacqui you’re afraid of Vera as much as Jax.”_

The ninja smiled at him, saying nothing telepathically or out loud, but raising a slight single eyebrow at him that didn’t need to be telepathically communicated _: “Try it.”_

Kung Jin gave a frown before he turned to the others. “So, what’s going on?”

“Well let’s just say that ‘everything is _kitten_ close to getting out of the bag’,” Johnny answered. 

TJ yakked somewhere behind him. 

“What?” the Shaolin deadpanned; trying his best not to yak as well.

“Well, let’s just say right _meow,_ your cats are still a secret, but they might not remain a secret for long,” Cassie added.

Jacqui rubbed the side of her temple with two of her fingers, pressing her digits into a circle and looking as annoyed as the archer was.

“English please,” Jin groused, feeling RJ rubbing against the side of his leg and purring. 

_“Patience Kung Jin. Show patience to your comrades.”_

“What we are saying is it might be _… pawsible_ that the kittens are on a certain General’s radar now,” Cassie snarked. 

“By the Gods...” 

RJ gave a low ‘murr’. _“Never mind. I was wrong. They are unworthy.”_

Briggs shook her head. “Sonya is on to you. Well, to _us._ All of us. She knows we’re hiding something. They can’t be in your room, anymore. She’ll find them.”

Jin sighed, feeling RJ plant his front feet on the side of his calf and balancing on his back paws; trying to get his attention. The monk reached down, grabbing the miniature Thunder God, and let him rest against his shoulder, his hand on the kitten’s backside for support. It hadn’t escaped his notice at the last meeting that the General looked worse than usual, caused by her allergies, and that she had suspected them all for that reason. 

_“We are in trouble, Kung Jin. Your heart knows it to be true as well.”_

_“...I know, RJ.”_

“Yeah… I had that feeling too,” the Shaolin murmured, running a hand along the back of the white cat’s fur and eliciting a round of purring from RJ. “But I don’t have homes for them yet. I’m still working on that.

“We weren’t necessarily thinking that, but it is like what Jacqui said: we have _cat_ to be _kitten_ them out of here,” the blonde warned, the corners of her mouth pulled up at her joke slightly.

“You beat me by four milliseconds, Cassie,” Johnny chuckled, watching the remaining kittens meandering around the room. “We should probably start sneaking them away now… only time will _tail_ when Sonya will get here. If I know her, she’s already on her way. We need to stop _pussy-footing_ around.”

“She’ll go into _cat-aract_ arrest if she finds them,” Takeda joined in. 

“Nice Takeda,” Johnny smiled.

“I swear I’m gonna pummel the next person that utters a pun,” Jacqui snapped before Jin could.

“No need to have a hissy fit about it,” Cassie responded, before she gave a small ‘oops’ and raised her hands up in defense while giving a sheepish shrug. “That one slipped out, I swear Jacs.”

“Sure, it did,” Takeda piped in, raising a dubious eyebrow at her.

The archer, ignoring the horrendous puns, raised an eyebrow around the room at everyone; taken by surprise. 

“So… you’re all helping me?” Kung Jin’s eyebrows bridged into a sudden, abrupt and suspicious line. “Why?”

Johnny and Cassie glanced at each other, giving each other a sly smile that the Shaolin didn’t particularly like, before returning their attention back to him. 

“Oh, don’t worry, Carole Baskin, the kiddo and I are not gonna ask too much of you as payment and give you a reason to kill us,” Johnny grinned. “Well, maybe you’ll want to kill us a little, but it's what you get after not washing my blender.”

“I _did_ wash your blender,” Jin shot back sternly.

Johnny let out a scoff. “Right, and Zoo-Karen didn’t feed her husband to the tigers.”

“Something tells me I’m gonna hate every second of it,” the Shaolin grumbled. 

“Right-o, Jin. That’s the idea,” Cassie confirmed.

The archer scratched behind RJ’s ears, contemplating for a moment if he genuinely wanted to willingly sign himself up for whatever odd torment that the Cages’ had planned for him. Though, despite there being an obligation for repayment, he knew Takeda and Jacqui were simply volunteering even if they were recruited by the duo Hollywood royalty. He couldn’t help but smile internally at all of their good intentions towards him— and the cats. It appeared… he wasn’t the only one attached to them in some sense. Everyone in the group didn’t want Sonya to find them as much as he did, and he wasn’t ready for them to be discovered as well. He… he needed more time. 

Jin caught himself, clearing his throat. 

More time to find them homes, of course. After all, what else would he mean?

Raiden Jr. nuzzled into his throat, rubbing the sides of its face against the exposed skin of the Shaolin’s neck while purring, and despite himself, Jin leaned a little into it before he nodded his head at the group, accepting their terms. Whatever the debt, the Shaolin had a pretty good guess it was going to be some Gods-Awful movie they were going to force him to watch. Eighty percent of the time, it usually was as harmless as that. Irritating, but harmless.

“What do you have in mind?” Jin asked, the Cage pair just about to explain, before he heard something fall off his bedside table behind him and one of the kittens squeaking at his back from the bed. 

_“You like your cellular device on the floor, yes?”_ Jack meowed. _“I am helping. I am a helpful baby jaguar of the Am-a-zon.”_

He felt Takeda’s eyes on him, looking at him with barely restrained amusement and an expression that read _‘Really?’_ as he said nothing and gave a miniscule, dubious shake of his head at him. The ninja enjoying the kitten dialogue, once again. 

_“Zip it, Takeda.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter featuring Kombat-cats: Skimbleshanks, Macavity and Mr. Mistoffelees. I'll leave you to guess who those are.
> 
> I don't own MK or Cats, I mean I do own three cats, but not the musical. Let me know what you thought in the comments below, or just leave kudos (if you want). Always appreciated from your's truly. :)


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